Table of Contents
Why do we see lightning before thunder Class 8?
Lightning is seen earlier and thunder is heard later because the speed of sound is 330 m/s and the speed of light is 300,000,000 m/s. Light travels faster than a sound. Thus, light from the lightning reaches first to you. The sound from the lightning takes longer to reach and hence heard later.
Why lightning is it usually accompanied by thunder?
Why is lightning accompanied by thunder? During a bolt of lightning, thousands of amperes of electricity flows through the air in a fraction of a second. This rapidly heats up die air along its path which expands very fast producing shock waves which we hear as thunder.
Does thunder accompanied lightning?
Thunderstorms always have lightning (thunder is caused by lightning, and you can’t have a thunderstorm without thunder!), but you can have lightning without a thunderstorm. Lightning can also be seen in volcanic eruptions surface nuclear detonations, and in heavy snowstorms (“thunder snow”).
Can you get struck by lightning while wearing rubber shoes?
Wearing rubber shoes can make you immune to lightning strikes. Rubber soled shoes (and rubber tires) do not give you any protection from lightning (you are safe inside a car because of its metal frame, not because of the rubber tires somehow insulating you).
Is thunder a form of electricity?
Lightning is a discharge of electricity. A single stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000°C (54,000°F)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand explosively fast. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, known as thunder.
Why do we hear the sound of thunder after lightning?
Thunder is created when lightning passes through the air. The lightning discharge heats the air rapidly and causes it to expand. Immediately after the flash, the air cools and contracts quickly. This rapid expansion and contraction creates the sound wave that we hear as thunder.
What happens if lightning strikes rubber?
Many people believe cars are safe from lightning because the rubber tires prevent lightning from striking the car, but this is a myth that has been proven false. it will go through the tires or could actually melt them. Rubber tires offer no protection from lightning.
Does rubber keep lightning away?
Rubber does not protect you from lightning. Rubber is indeed an electrical insulator, but your shoes or bike tires, for instance, are way too thin to protect you from a lightning strike. While the rubber from the tires won’t protect you from lightning, the metal frame of the car certainly could.
Why does Lightning have to come first before Thunder?
Since the heat of lightning causes the expansion that results in thunder, the lighting must come first. Because light travels faster than sound, an observer will normally perceive a delay between lightning and thunder.
What should you do if you hear thunder and see lightning?
If you hear thunder, you are already within the area where next ground flashes could happen, as lightning can strike as far away as 10 miles from the centre of a thunderstorm, according to the Met Office. So, if the time delay is very short, and the distance to the lightning is 6 miles or less, it is recommended to seek immediate shelter.
How do you calculate the distance between lightning and Thunder?
Thus, counting the elapsed time in seconds between the flash of lightning and the following thunder, and then dividing that number by 5, will provide the distance in miles. If, for example, 10 seconds pass between the lightning and the thunder, the storm is 2 miles away.
How often does the speed of sound travel during a thunderstorm?
The speed of sound, in dry air, is about 1 mile every 5 seconds. Since dry air is not common during a thunderstorm, the speed at which thunder travels is only an approximation, but a rough calculation can still be made of the distance of a thunderstorm by comparing the time factors of lightning and its accompanying thunder.