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The lightning flash heats the air around it so quickly that the air expands very fast. When you heat something, it gets bigger – it expands. The air around the lightning flash expands so fast that it makes a shock wave in the air. That shock wave is the thunder that you hear.
What creates the sound of thunder?
Thunder is caused by the rapid expansion of the air surrounding the path of a lightning bolt. From the clouds to a nearby tree or roof, a lightning bolt takes only a few thousandths of a second to split through the air. The loud thunder that follows the lightning bolt is commonly said to come from the bolt itself.
Why does thunder sound like a bomb?
The sound originates at the lightning. The superheated air rapidly expands and then collapses back into itself, that rapid expansion and collapse is the source of the sound. If that happened at one spot, then all the sound would reach your ears at the same time and you would hear a single explosion.
What is the sound of thunder called?
Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. In turn, this expansion of air creates a sonic shock wave, often referred to as a “thunderclap” or “peal of thunder”.
Why can I hear thunder without lightning?
No, it is not possible to have thunder without lightning. Thunder starts as a shockwave from the explosively expanding lightning channel when a large current causes rapid heating. However, it is possible that you might see lightning and not hear the thunder because it was too far away. Thunder is caused by lightning.
Can thunder shake a house?
Your house will shake depending the closeness of the lightning. Thunder is a sonic boom that comes from the rapid heating of the air around a lightning strike. Sonic booms cause massive shaking to nearby objects (your house). This will happen if the lightning is very close.
What was the loudest thunder ever recorded?
The explosion was loud enough that this level of noise was recorded many miles away from the site of the blast. A sound of 174 decibels was recorded by barometers 100 miles from Krakatoa. That meant anyone within an 100 mile radius of Krakatoa had a chance of being literally deafened by this sound.
Can thunder damage your ears?
Thunder in close proximity is capable of producing temporary deafness and may cause rupturing of the ear’s tympanic membrane that can lead to hearing damage or deafness. At very close range, thunder is capable of causing property damage.
Do lightning create shock waves?
When lightning occurs, it heats the air surrounding its channel to that same incredible temperature in a fraction of a second. Like all gases, when air molecules are heated, they expand. When lightning strikes, a shock wave is generated at each point along the path of the lightning bolt.
How is lightning made?
Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. Most lightning occurs within the clouds. This heat causes surrounding air to rapidly expand and vibrate, which creates the pealing thunder we hear a short time after seeing a lightning flash.
Why is there thunder but no rain?
Dry thunderstorm refers to thunder and lightning that occur without bringing rain to the ground. In fact, the thunder-bearing clouds do produce rain but the rain droplets have evaporated in the air before reaching the ground.
How powerful is a lightning bolt?
A typical lightning flash is about 300 million Volts and about 30,000 Amps. In comparison, household current is 120 Volts and 15 Amps.
Is lightning hotter than the sun?
In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun). When lightning strikes a tree, the heat vaporizes any water in its path possibly causing the tree to explode or a strip of bark to be blown off.
Are airplanes safe from lightning?
Planes all over the world get struck by lightning almost daily. While some travelers may feel that this would be an unpleasant experience, modern jetliners are designed to cope with lightning strikes. They go through specific lightning tests to make sure they can withstand hits as part of their certification.
Can thunder crack windows?
Glass is a good insulator, so it is very unlikely that a window pane would ever be struck directly. But a lightning strike on the roof of a house will travel down through the building through the most conductive route available. This could also shatter a window if it was close enough.
What does it mean when thunder lasts a long time?
Thunder lasts longer than lightning due to the time it takes for the sound to travel from different parts of the lightning channel. When the sound of thunder has a rumbling quality, it is the sound waves reaching the listener at different times owing to the shape of the lightning strike.
What is the loudest thing in the universe?
The sound made by the Krakatoa volcanic eruption in 1883 was so loud it ruptured eardrums of people 40 miles away, travelled around the world four times, and was clearly heard 5,000 kilometers away. This is hailed as the loudest noise ever – and reported in Nautilus .
What state has the loudest thunder?
Florida. Florida leads as the most lightning-prone state in the country, as it experiences an average 25.3 lightning strikes for every square mile. The state witnesses an average of 1.45 million lightning strikes each year, the highest in the country.
How loud can a human yell?
Human screams can be quite loud, possibly exceeding 100 dB (as of March 2019, the world record is 129 dB!) —but you probably want to avoid that because screams that loud can hurt your ears! You should also have found sound levels drop off quickly as you get farther from the source.
