Why Do We Have Lightning And Thunder

Energy from a lightning channel heats the air briefly to around 50 000 degrees fahrenheit much hotter than the surface of the sun.

Why do we have lightning and thunder.

But most of the time we hear thunder as a loud long rumble. If you see dark clouds then lightning could be present but the best thing you can do is to listen for thunder. Most lightning occurs within the clouds. When the ground is hot it heats the air above it.

The sound of thunder should serve as a warning to anyone outside that they are within striking distance of the storm and need to get to a safe place immediately. As the air rises water vapour cools and forms a cloud. The rapid expansion and heating of air caused by lightning produces the accompanying loud clap of thunder. If you re nearby to a lightning strike you may have heard thunder as a really loud crack almost like the sound of a whip being cracked.

If you hear thunder then you need to go indoors or get in a car. A scishow kids viewer wants to know why do lightning and thunder happen get your raincoat because jessi will take you inside a thunderstorm to give you. When water on the earth s surface is heated by the sun. To make this electric current first you need a cloud.

When lightning is made the same thing happens but on a much bigger scale. How does lightning form. Fleetwood mac captured the essence of thunder and rain in the song dreams thunder only happens when its raining thunder is a consequence of lightning and lightning is born in rain clouds. Read more about nssl s lightning research here.

The reason we see lightning before we hear thunder is because light travels faster than sound. Lightning is an electric current. Thunder is the sound caused by a nearby flash of lightning and can be heard for a distance of only about 10 miles from the lightning strike. When the attraction becomes too strong the positive and negative charges come together or discharge to balance the difference in a flash of lightning sometimes known as a lightning strike or lightning bolt.

Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground or within the clouds themselves. This is what we hear and call thunder the rumbling of thunder is simply caused by the vibration or sound of the air affected by lightning.