On a thunderstorm day, why do you see lightning first and then hear thunder?

Updated on science 2024-04-24
30 answers
  1. Anonymous users2024-02-08

    Lightning is an electrical spark produced when the charge generated by the cloud during its motion is discharged when it is discharged, and it is both light and sound. It's just that the light and sound in thunder and lightning are more powerful than the electric sparks we see in our lives.

    The reason why lightning is seen first and then thunder is heard is because in the air, light travels fast and reaches the ground quickly, while sound travels slowly in the air and reaches the earth after a while. So you will hear the lightning first and then hear the thunder. In fact, lightning and thunder appear at the same time.

    The reason for such a difference in the time it takes to reach the ground is that light travels 3,000,000 kilometers per second, while sound travels only one kilometer in the air. The speed of sound is only one-900,000th the speed of light.

    Some lightning bolts are long, some are short, some are loud, and some are quiet. You can roughly judge the height of the clouds to the ground based on the time it takes for the sound to reach the ground. It doesn't take much time for the light to reach the ground, it can be considered 0, from seeing lightning to hearing thunder, how many seconds is the interval and multiplied by 340 meters, which is the distance from lightning to you.

    Thunder is reflected when it encounters clouds or tall buildings, so it usually takes a while for a lightning bolt to disappear.

  2. Anonymous users2024-02-07

    Analysis] The velocity of light in the air is about 3 108 m s, and the speed of sound in the air is 340 m s, so when lightning occurs, the lightning is seen first and then the thunder is heard. 【Answer】Lightning and thunder are produced at the same time, but the speed of light is much greater than the speed of sound, according to the formula v=s t, it can be seen that in the case of the same distance, the time taken by light is much smaller than that of sound, so the lightning is seen first and then the thunder is heard.

  3. Anonymous users2024-02-06

    Light travels much faster in the air than the speed of sound, and the light travels to the observer first, so lightning is seen first and then thunder is heard.

  4. Anonymous users2024-02-05

    Because the speed of light is 3*10 to the eighth power.

    The speed of the sound in the air is 340m s!

    The speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, so you see lightning first and then hear thunder!

  5. Anonymous users2024-02-04

    Because light travels faster than sound.

  6. Anonymous users2024-02-03

    Because the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound.

  7. Anonymous users2024-02-02

    Because the eyes are in front of the ears.

  8. Anonymous users2024-02-01

    Preface: In thunderous and rainy weather, we always see lightning in the sky first, and then hear thunder, so most people think that lightning strikes first and then thunder. In fact, lightning and thunder occur at the same time, but the speed at which they travel through the atmosphere varies greatly. <>

    The light of lightning can travel about 300,000 kilometers per second, but thunder can only travel 340 meters, so many people will see lightning first and then hear thunder. If we don't hear thunder when we see lightning, it may be because the discharge clouds are too far away from us, and the thunder is not loud enough, and it will be consumed in the process of propagation, and the sound will become smaller and smaller, so many people can't hear the thunder completely when they see lightning. Light travels very fast in the air, reaching the ground very quickly, but sound travels very slowly in the air.

    Lightning can be long and short, and thunder can be loud and small. <>

    The height of the clouds to the ground can be judged by the time it takes for the lightning to reach the ground, and it does not take much time for the light to reach the ground because the speed is very fast. If you want to know how far the lightning is from you, you can calculate the time it takes to hear the thunder after seeing the lightning and multiply it by 340 meters to calculate the distance from the lightning to you. On a rainy day.

    If the lightning in the sky is particularly strong, you must remember to stay away, if you are not careful, you may be struck by lightning. <>

    After all, there are many similar incidents on the news, and you must not hide under the tree on a rainy day, so that if you are in a thunderous weather, you may be electrocuted, so in daily life, if the rain is particularly heavy, and accompanied by thunder and lightning, you must avoid it in time to avoid being injured by mistake. Nature is the most ruthless in natural disasters.

    In front of them, people are also very weak, so what can be avoided must be avoided, don't think that you are lucky, not all people are so lucky, if you are struck by lightning, the consequences are unimaginable.

  9. Anonymous users2024-01-31

    When it rains, lightning is seen first, and this is because sound travels slower than light, so we see lightning first.

  10. Anonymous users2024-01-30

    Because light travels faster than sound, when it rains we see lightning first and then hear thunder.

  11. Anonymous users2024-01-29

    See the lightning first. Because the speed of light is faster, sound travels more slowly, and lightning is seen first.

  12. Anonymous users2024-01-28

    This is because sound travels more slowly than light, so when we have a thunderstorm, we see lightning first.

  13. Anonymous users2024-01-27

    I think this is a natural phenomenon, and it is also a physical phenomenon, so we must look at it rationally.

  14. Anonymous users2024-01-26

    Thunder and lightning is the discharge phenomenon of thunderstorm clouds, due to water vapor and violent air convective movement so that the clouds produce positive and negative charges, when the positively charged clouds and negatively charged clouds meet, the lightning phenomenon will occur, causing the air ** type vibration, this is thunder.

    Therefore, thunder and lightning occur at the same time during a thunderstorm. But because light travels very fast. Light travels through the air, although more slowly than in a vacuum, but it is also close to 30 kilometers per second.

    Sound travels much more slowly. The speed at which sound travels through the air is 340 meters per second. Therefore, even when thunder strikes far away, the light emitted by lightning travels into our eyes instantaneously, and we simply do not feel the time it takes to propagate.

    Thunder, on the other hand, travels much slower, and it takes a long time to reach our ears from a distance.

    Start the timer when you see lightning, measure the time until you hear thunder, and estimate the distance from the place where the lightning occurred according to the formula s v sound t. In the same way, after the artillery fires, the time from seeing the flash to hearing the ** sound when the shell is written down can estimate the distance from the place where the gun is fired to the place where the gun is fired. But this method doesn't work in space, you may have seen the sci-fi film of the Earth Guardian fighting with alien invaders in space, when the spaceship is hit, it is also the first to see the flash and then hear the sound, it is pure fantasy.

    Because light propagation does not need a medium, and sound propagation requires a medium, and a vacuum cannot transmit sound, so, it really happens in space, and you can only see flashes, but you can't hear the sound. As you know, astronauts who land on the moon also need to speak face-to-face through a walkie-talkie, because there is no air on the moon, and the sound of human speech cannot be transmitted.

    We can tell by the time difference between lightning and thunder how far away the thunder is from where we are. Assuming that we hear a rumbling thunder 5 seconds after seeing the lightning, the lightning is happening 1,700 meters away.

    In particular, it is important to note that the phenomenon of atmospheric discharge during thunderstorming, lightning is very dangerous. Try not to stay outside during thunderstorms in summer, and do not take shelter under large trees to avoid lightning strikes.

  15. Anonymous users2024-01-25

    There must have been lightning before you arrived, so you can see the lightning first, and slowly you can hear some sounds, and that's it.

  16. Anonymous users2024-01-24

    Actually, they happen at the same time, but lightning travels faster than sound, and lightning does not need to travel physically, so people will see lightning first and then hear thunder.

  17. Anonymous users2024-01-23

    Because the speed of light travels much faster than the speed of sound, lightning is seen first and then thunder is heard.

  18. Anonymous users2024-01-22

    The main reason is that the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, so you can see lightning first and then hear thunder.

  19. Anonymous users2024-01-21

    Because light travels faster than sound, it is only when lightning is seen and then sound is heard on rainy days.

  20. Anonymous users2024-01-20

    Not every rainy day will have lightning and thunder, lightning and thunder generally occurWhen it rains in spring and summerOn some winter snowy days, lightning and thunder can also occur.

    In warm and humid times,The air is heated and rises and condensesCloud, clouds accumulate more and more and eventually form rain. In the process of moving clouds in the atmosphereAll kinds of particles collide and rub against each other, will cause the amount of positive and negative charges to continue to accumulate, and add toThe voltage of the air medium also increases, in a certain wayThe charge will be released under these conditionsThis act of discharging produces strong lightning, some of which are lightningCurrentVery large and achievableTens of thousands of amps.

    When lightning passes through the air, it willThe air heats up sharply, so thatThe air expands rapidly, creating thundersound;From a practical point of view,Lightning and thunder occur almost simultaneously.

    The reason why people willLightning is seen first and thunder is heardAnd that's becauseLightning is the speed at which light travels, whileThunder is the speed at which sound travelsLightIt will propagate very quickly in the natural environment, and the propagation speed in the earth's atmospheric environment is approximately300,000 kilometers per second, whileThe speed at which sound travels through the atmosphere is about 332 meters per secondThe speed of propagation between the two is very different, and people can feel it even at very close distancesThere is a time lag between these two phenomena.

    Strong lightning can cause harm to people, and we need to be inOn rainy days, try to avoid thunderstorm areas as much as possible。In everyday life, we can come by observingEstimate the distance of the thunderstorm zone from yourself, generally only see lightning, but do not hear thunder, that means that the thunderstorm area is far away from you; If lightning and thunder arrive at about the same time, you may be in or near a thunderstorm and need to find a safe place to take shelter.

    There is an easy way to estimate distance, and that isDivide the speed of seconds between lightning and thunder by 3, you can roughly get the distance between yourself and the thunderstorm area, if you are inThunder is heard 6 seconds after the lightning, and the center of the thunderstorm is 2 kilometers away from youIt's basically safe here.

  21. Anonymous users2024-01-19

    Because light travels very fast, we can see lightning first and then hear sounds, and light is everywhere.

  22. Anonymous users2024-01-18

    This is because light travels faster than sound.

  23. Anonymous users2024-01-17

    Because the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, we will see lightning and then hear thunder.

  24. Anonymous users2024-01-16

    Light travels faster than sound.

    In the afternoon or evening of summer, the hot air on the ground carries a large amount of water vapor and continuously rises to the sky, forming a wide range of cumulonimbus clouds, and a large number of positive or negative charges gather in different parts of the cumulonimbus clouds to form thunderstorm clouds.

    When the charge in the clouds reaches a certain strength, it breaks down the air and opens a narrow channel to forcibly discharge. When the clouds are discharged, due to the strong current in the clouds, the air on the channel is instantly burned hot, emitting a dazzling strong light, which is lightning, and the high temperature caused by it will cause the air and water droplets to expand sharply, thus generating a shock wave, and this strong shock wave activity produces thunder.

    It can be seen that in thunderclouds, lightning and thunder occur at the same time. But because light runs faster than sound. Light travels 300,000 kilometers per second in the air, and sound can only travel 340 meters per second in the air, and the speed of sound is almost 1/900,000 of the speed of light.

  25. Anonymous users2024-01-15

    Lightning and thunder are produced at the same time, but light travels much faster than sound.

    So when thunder strikes, you see lightning first, and then you hear thunder.

    In summer, thunderstorms often occur, and when it rains, lightning and thunder are earth-shattering. We know that when the electric field between the positive and negative charge regions in a thundercloud is large enough to a certain extent, the two charges will be neutralized and a spark will occur, and a strong light will occur when the spark is discharged, which is lightning.

    When a high temperature is generated in the path of light, the surrounding air suddenly expands due to intense heating, and the cloud droplets will also suddenly vaporize and expand due to the high heat, causing a loud noise, which is called thunder.

    Lightning and thunder occur at the same time, so why do we always see lightning first and then hear thunder? This is because light travels much faster than sound.

    Sound is only 340 meters per second in the air, and light travels 300,000 kilometers per second in the air, which is 900,000 times the speed of sound! The time it takes for light to travel from the place where the lightning occurs to the ground is generally only a few hundred thousandths of a second, but it takes a long time for the sound to travel this distance. So, you will see lightning first, and then you will hear thunder.

    Based on this common sense, we can use the time between the time we see the lightning and the time we hear the thunder to calculate how far away the discharged cloud is from us.

    Sometimes we only see lightning and don't hear thunder, because the discharge clouds are too far away from us, or the thunder is not loud enough. As it spreads, its energy becomes smaller and smaller.

  26. Anonymous users2024-01-14

    Because light travels faster than sound, during a thunderstorm, we always see lightning first and hear thunder later.

  27. Anonymous users2024-01-13

    Lightning is light, and light travels faster than thunder.

  28. Anonymous users2024-01-12

    Because light travels much faster than sound.

  29. Anonymous users2024-01-11

    Because the eyes are in front and the ears are behind, they see first and then hear.

  30. Anonymous users2024-01-10

    In summer, lightning and thunder often occur, and when the electric field between the positive and negative charge regions in a thunderstorm is large enough to a certain extent, the two charges will be neutralized and sparks will occur, a phenomenon called spark discharge. When the spark is discharged, it emits a strong light, and a high temperature is generated in the path of the light, causing the surrounding air to suddenly expand due to intense heating, and the cloud droplets will also suddenly expand due to high heat, making a loud noise. A strong light is lightning, and a sound is thunder.

    Since lightning and thunder occur at the same time, why do we always see lightning first and then hear thunder? This is because light travels faster than sound. Light travels almost 300,000 kilometers per second in the air, and at such a speed, it can travel seven and a half times around the Earth's equator in one second.

    Sound travels about 340 meters per second in the air, almost 1/900,000th of the speed of light. The time it takes for light to travel from the place where the lightning occurs to the ground is usually only a few hundred thousandths of a second, but it takes a long time for the sound to travel the same distance. Based on this common sense, we can use the time between the time we see the lightning and the time we hear the thunder to calculate how far away we are from the place where the electricity is discharged.

    Sometimes we only see lightning and don't hear thunder, because the discharge clouds are too far away from us, or because the sound is not loud enough. Because as the sound travels through the air, its energy becomes smaller and smaller, and in the end the sound is no longer audible.

    Since there is a thunder in the sky when there is a lightning bolt, why do we sometimes see lightning only for a flash and hear thunder that rumbles and rings for a long time?

    This is because the lightning in the sky is generally very long, and some linear lightning bolts are as long as 2 3 kilometers, or even about 10 kilometers. Because the lightning parts are different from us, the thunder reaches our ears at a different time. On the other hand, lightning often does not stop once it happens, but often flashes several times in a row in a flash, so when the thunder of the first discharge has not been cut off, and the thunder of the second and third discharges is heard, and the thunder of the successive thunder is mixed together, it becomes a rumbling thunder.

    Also, when thunder hits the ground, buildings, mountains, or clouds in the sky, reflections occur, creating echoes. The timing of these echoes reaching our ears is also inconsistent, hence the rumbling of thunder. Sometimes, several reasons come together, and the rumbling thunder can even sound for a minute or so before stopping.

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