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What causes thunder?

Published Friday, December 15, 2006 by R. Edmondson | E-mail this post

Thunder is caused by lightning. Lightning is a stream of electrons (electricity) flowing within or between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground (usually occurring during a thunderstorm). When a bolt of lightning shoots through the atmosphere, it rapidly heats the air up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (five times the temperature of the sun) in a fraction of a second (almost instantaneously). This superheated air rapidly expands thus opening up a little hole (a partial vacuum) in the air surrounding the lightning's path, called a channel. As the superheated air quickly dissipates it's heat (cools), the air rapidly collapses (contracts), creating a tremendous shock (compress) wave. This loud cracking sound wave, is what we hear as thunder. The rumbling sound has to do with the sound echoes and reverberates as the vibrations gradually die out over distance.

The reason we see lightning before we hear thunder is because light travels faster than sound. Thunder typically can be heard 10 to 15 miles away from a thunderstorm.

Labels: Geography, Physical Geography, Science

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I'm R. Edmondson
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