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With nearby lightning strikes the thunder will sound like a loud bang, crack or snap and its duration will be very short. As the shock wave propagates away from the strike center, it stretches, diminishes, and becomes elongated. Then other shock waves from more distance locations arrive at the listener.
What sound does thunder make in words?
Examples of onomatopoeic English words that might be applicable to thunder are boom, rumble, and maybe crash.
Does thunder have sound?
Thunder is the sound caused by a nearby flash of lightning and can be heard for a distance of only about 10 miles from the lightning strike. This rapid expansion and contraction creates the sound wave that we hear as thunder.
What is the sound of storm?
The loud thunder that follows the lightning bolt is commonly said to come from the bolt itself. However, the grumbles and growls we hear in thunderstorms actually come from the rapid expansion of the air surrounding the lightning bolt.
Why thunder is so loud?
Why is thunder so loud? It’s because the amount of electrical energy that flows from the cloud to the ground is so enormous: it’s like a very big waterfall of electricity. The louder the sound that you hear, the closer you are to the lightning. Light travels through air much faster than sound.
How loud is a thunder?
The loudness of thunder can be expressed in decibels (dB). A clap of thunder typically registers at about 120 dB in close proximity to the ground stroke. This is 10 times louder than a garbage truck or pneumatic jackhammer drill.
What is thunder made of?
Thunder is caused by lightning, which is essentially a stream of electrons flowing between or within clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. The air surrounding the electron stream is heated to as hot as 50,000 degrees Farhenheit, which is three times hotter than the surface of the sun.
What does it sound like when lightning hits your house?
You will hear a loud and powerful “boom” like you would with most lightning strikes, but this one will be memorable and will shake your home. If your house or yard was hit, there may be a continuous buzzing or hissing sound following the strike.
How would you describe a thunderstorm?
thunderstorm, a violent short-lived weather disturbance that is almost always associated with lightning, thunder, dense clouds, heavy rain or hail, and strong gusty winds. There the moisture contained in the updraft condenses to form towering cumulonimbus clouds and, eventually, precipitation.
How do you describe lightning?
Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground. When the opposite charges build up enough, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we know as lightning.
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 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.
How can thunder hurt you?
The electricity that does enters a person’s body can cause devastating neurological damage, including memory loss, chronic pain and seizures in addition to the relatively superficial burns on the outside of someone’s skin.
What is the loudest sound?
The loudest sound in recorded history came from the volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island Krakatoa at 10.02 a.m. on August 27, 1883. The explosion caused two thirds of the island to collapse and formed tsunami waves as high as 46 m (151 ft) rocking ships as far away as South Africa.
Does lightning itself make a sound?
Yes. The sound the lightning itself makes is called thunder. Well in a vacuum, there is no sound, but normally lightning happens in the atmosphere and it does make a sound, it’s called thunder!.
Why does thunder sound like a bomb?
The source of the sound you hear as thunder is the rapid expansion of air turned to plasma. The process is a type of explosion. This explosion happens along the entire length of the lightning bolt and take a split second.
How would you describe thunder and lightning in a story?
You can bring these sound effects to your descriptions by using onomatopoeia, a device where words mimic the sounds of their meaning. For example, if a thunderstorm figures prominently in your story, the thunder could “rumble” or “boom,” rain could “patter” against the windows” and wind could “rush” across a field.
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.
Can there be 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.
How do you describe the sound of lightning?
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”.
Can you hear lightning sizzle?
Light has no sound. It’s the sudden explosion of superheated air that makes the noise. However, if you are very near an arriving flash, you can hear a sizzling noise caused by ozone molecules being excited.
Can thunder sound like gunshots?
Lightning bolt has very high current and power and this sound is produced in a large surface area where as gun shot’s sound is produced in a short area(area of the gun). Thats why you thunder will win for long distance.
