For example, a 5-second interval between flash and thunder means the bolt is one mile away. Since sound travels 1/5 mile per second, count the seconds between the flash and the sound and add 1/5 mile for each second. How far away is the lightning?Įstimating how far away lightning is can be done by measuring the time between seeing the lightning and hearing the first sound of thunder. In addition, these sound waves can bounce off clouds and other objects, creating an echo effect. Since sound travels through air at about 1/5 mile per second, it may take half a second or longer for the sound from the top of the bolt to reach you. The rumbles come from the bolt that was farther away. When you hear the clap, that is from the part of the bolt that was closest to you. Most cloud-to-ground lightning bolts are 3 to 4 miles from top to bottom.
#Time between thunder and lightning crack#
Thunder will be a sharp crack or clap when lightning is close. That’s why you can’t hear thunder from lightning that’s more than about 10 miles away. The sharpness of thunder depends on how far away it is. Contrary to some beliefs, lightning does not create a vacuum. As the shock wave spreads out, it quickly degrades into a sound wave that we call thunder. The shock wave can knock down a person within 30 to 50 feet of a strike.
This superheated air rapidly expands, creating a shock wave. When lightning occurs, the air in the electrical channel is immediately heated to upwards of 40,000 degrees. It’s a fascinating feature of thunderstorms that is often misunderstood. You hear it as a large clap or peal when it’s close. You hear it in the distance as a gentle rumbling. Her hearing never fully recovered, or at least that’s what she told me when I talked to her. One lasting result from this was my mom’s hearing being affected, as she was just inside where the lightning struck. Luckily my parents were able to smother the fire before it did significant damage. Electricity shot out of an outlet and caught nearby curtains on fire. What happened was that a lightning strike occurred right outside the house next to the living room. I then heard my parents frantically moving around, and though I couldn’t exactly hear what was being said, they were very concerned. At the peak of the storm, a tremendous boom rattled the house. I was in my room, trying to sleep through the storm, while my parents were in the living room. While I was home from college one summer, an early morning thunderstorm passed over our farmhouse.
0 kommentar(er)
