Why is lightning heard before thunder?

Answer 1

Lighting always comes just before thunder because it is the heat of lightning that causes thunder.

Lightning is seen when there is a discharge of atmospheric electricity in the clouds or between clouds and the ground. The energy from the lightning heats the air and causes a sudden expansion of the air (followed by a rapid contraction), which results in the sound called thunder. Since the heat of lightning causes the expansion that results in thunder, the lighting must come first.

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Because light travels faster than sound, an observer will normally perceive a delay between lightning and thunder. This delay increases with farther distance from the actual lightning strike. People will often count the seconds that pass after they see lightning until they hear the thunder. The shorter the time observed between the two, the closer the lightning is to the observer.

- In English units, every 5 seconds of delay is about a mile in distance.

- In metric units, every 3 seconds of delay is about a kilometer in distance.

Answer 2

Thunder is the shockwave radiating away from the strike path. When the air heats up, it expands rapidly, creating a compression wave that propagates through the surrounding air. This compression wave manifests itself in the form of a sound wave. That does not mean that thunder is harmless. On the contrary, if you are close enough, you can feel the shockwave as it shakes the surroundings. Keep in mind that when a nuclear explosion occurs, typically the most destruction is caused by the energy of the rapidly moving shockwave. In fact, the shockwave that produces the thunder from a lightning strike can most certainly damage structures and people. This danger is more prominent when you are close to the strike, because the shockwave is stronger there and will dampen (decrease) with distance. Physics teaches us that sound travels much slower than light, so we see the flash before we hear the thunder. In air, sound travels roughly 1 mile every 4.5 seconds. Light travels at a blazing 186,000 miles (299,000 kilometers) per second.

Answer 3

Light travels faster than sound, so when lightning strikes, the light reaches you almost instantly, while the sound of the thunder takes longer to reach your ears. This creates a delay between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder, resulting in the phenomenon of hearing the thunder after seeing the lightning.

Answer 4

thunder never comes before the lightning it is the lightning that comes before thunder because light travels faster than sound.

Answer 5

Huh?