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- If the thunder sounds more like a rumble, the lightning was at least several miles away. The loud boom that you sometimes hear is created by the main lightning channel as it reaches the ground.
www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-science-thunder
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Apr 5, 2023 · The initial sound reaches the ear with a loud bang, crack, or snap. Download Image. As shock waves propagate away from the path of the lightning bolt, they are distorted, becoming stretched and elongated. The sound is more muted. Other shock waves from more distant locations arrive at the listener.
- Learning Lesson
Since the sonic boom is created along the path of the...
- Learning Lesson
The loud boom that you sometimes hear is created by the main lightning channel as it reaches the ground. 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.
Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. [1][2][3] Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning produces rapid expansion of the air in the path of a lightning bolt. [4] .
When a lightning strike is close, the thunder is heard as a loud clap or snapping sound. When the sound of thunder has a rumbling quality, it is the sound waves reaching the listener at...
- Overview
- Listening to thunder: It’s in the sound!
Where there is lightning there will be thunder, and where there is thunder there will be lightning. The reason: thunder is the sound of the shockwave that lightning produces as it heats up the air to 30,000°C in less than one second. This is five times the temperature on the surface of the sun! The air surrounding the lightning channel or pathway expands explosively and creates a shockwave which produces the sound waves of thunder.
Have you ever wondered why the rumble of thunder can sound differently from one lightning strike to another? Depending on atmospheric conditions, you can hear thunder from as far away as 20 km, or as close as 8 km. How thunder sounds depends on a number of factors: the distance between you and the lightning strike, the temperature of the air, the amount of cloud and water in the air, as well as where the lightning channel is in relation to where you are situated.
Light travels at 300,000 km/second, whereas sound travels at 0.3 km/sec. This is why you can see the flash of lightning sooner than you hear the rumble of thunder that the initial lightning strike produces. As the distance to the lightning strike increases, the pitch of the thunder lowers. This is because the higher frequencies are selectively absorbed. This is just like when there is music playing in another room, you can hear the bass notes but not the high notes.
Sound waves are affected by the air temperature: they move faster in hot air and slower in cold air. They also bend or refract toward areas of lower temperatures similar to how light bends when it moves from air through water. Since the atmosphere usually cools with height, sound waves or thunder tend to deflect upwards. Typically this means if you are on the ground, more than 20 km away from a lightning strike, you will not be able to hear it. See figure A.
However there are differences between day and night. During a summer day, the air near the earth’s surface can be much hotter than the air above, so the sound waves bend toward the cooler air. See figure (A) for a graphic of this process. Conversely, at night, the air near the surface is likely cooler, so the sound waves bend towards the earth’s surface. See figure (B) for a graphic of this process.
There are also differences over water because of the higher humidity near the surface of the water. The bending of the sound waves is enhanced because of the higher humidity so more of the sound waves are blocked. This means the storms have to be closer to you for you to hear the thunder. Lightning could be as close as 8 km away before you actually hear it which would place you within striking distance of being hit by lightning.
Listening to what thunder sounds like from various distances can be a fun experiment! Just remember that no matter how far away you see lightning, if you hear thunder, you are within striking distance of being hit. Find shelter immediately, either in a house or a car, and stay there for 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder is heard before resuming your activities. But remember that every thunderstorm has a very first lightning strike that will come without any warning and could occur in your immediate vicinity. So even before thunder roars, you need to keep an eye on the sky.
The following links are a safe and fun way to hear different thunder sounds:
Click on the links below to hear:
•Cloud to ground 8 km
•Cloud to ground 3 km
•Cloud to ground 2 km
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.
Oct 19, 2023 · The loud boom is caused by the heat of the lightning. When the air gets very, very hot, the heat makes the air explode. Since light travels much, much, faster than sound, you’ll see lightning before you hear thunder.
