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If we are watching the sky, we see the lightning before we hear the thunder. That is because light travels much faster than sound waves. We can estimate the distance of the lightning by counting how many seconds it takes until we hear the thunder.
Does thunder always come before lightning?
A person on the ground sees the lightning flash before hearing the thunder because light at a speed of around 300,000,000 meters per second travels much faster than sound which moves at 340 meters per second. Lightning always comes with thunder.
Why does thunder come before lightning?
Thunder and lightning all occur due to the release of energy – thunder is a soundwave, and lightning is the emission of electromagnetic energy. The reason we see a flash of lightning before hearing thunder is because light travels faster than sound.
Why is thunder after lightning?
Immediately after the flash, the air cools and contracts quickly. This rapid expansion and contraction creates the sound wave that we hear as thunder. Since you see lightning immediately and it takes the sound of thunder about 5 seconds to travel a mile, you can calculate the distance between you and the lightning.
Why is thunder so loud?
A big noise 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.
What is faster lightning or light?
Comparing it with the average lightning speed, Light is ~ 675.45 times faster.
What are the 4 types of lightning?
Types of Lightning Cloud-to-Ground (CG) Lightning. Negative Cloud-to-Ground Lightning (-CG) Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning (+CG) Cloud-to-Air (CA) Lightning. Ground-to-Cloud (GC) Lightning. Intracloud (IC) Lightning.
Is it safe to use the toilet during a thunderstorm?
No. Lightning can travel through plumbing. It is best to avoid all water during a lightning storm.
What is the 30 30 rule for lightning?
Don’t forget the 30-30 rule. After you see lightning, start counting to 30. If you hear thunder before you reach 30, go indoors. Suspend activities for at least 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.
Can lightning strike a car?
A typical cloud-to-ground, actually cloud-to-vehicle, lightning strike will either strike the antenna of the vehicle or along the roofline. The lightning will then pass through the vehicle’s outer metal shell, then through the tires to the ground.
Does thunder only happen when its raining?
This can occur when storm clouds form from moisture at very high levels, but as the air below is dry, rain evaporates before it falls to Earth. So thunder can happen when there’s no rain in sight!Oct 21, 2018.
Why does thunder shake your house?
Why does the house shake when there is a thunder storm? 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).
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 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.
Is the sun hotter than lightning?
In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun).
Is lightning faster than a bullet?
That is faster than a bullet fired from an assault rifle- 1000 metres per second.
What is fastest thing on earth?
Light travels about 186,270 miles (more than seven times the circumference of Earth) in one second. In modern physics, light is regarded as the fastest thing in the universe, and its velocity in empty space as a fundamental constant of nature.
What color lightning is the strongest?
White – this is by far one of the most dangerous color of lightning due to the fact that this type of lightning is the hottest. This color can indicate a low concentration of moisture in the air as well as a high concentration of dust in the air.
Why is the lightning green?
Green lightning does indicate that the cloud is extremely tall, and because thunderclouds are the tallest clouds, green is a warning sign that large hail or a tornado is on the way. Spewing an ash cloud into the atmosphere. Volcanic ash often contains lightning bolts, a phenomenon known as volcanic lightning.
What is the weakest color of lightning?
The color of the bolt depends on how hot it is; the hotter the lightning, the closer the color will be to the end of the spectrum. The color spectrum in this case start with infared which is red and the coolest up to ultraviolet which appears violet and is the hottest.
