The air near a lightning strike is heated to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the surface of the sun. Rapid heating and cooling of air near the lightning channel causes a shock wave that results in thunder. Thunder from a nearby lightning strike will have a very sharp crack or loud bang.
Thunderstorms and lightning
Evolution and electrification of thunderstorms. The development of a thunderstorm begins when warm, moist air rises upwards and the water vapor the air contains condenses and forms a cumulus cloud. Squall lines, lightning strikes, or thunderstorm occurrence over the world’s oceans too are a few more items to think about.
How do lightning and thunder occur?
Water droplets in the air act as a conductor of this charge. These charges flow to meet, thus producing strikes of lightning and thunder. For this phenomenon to occur, a sufficiently high electric potential between two regions and a high resistance medium must be present.
The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt. A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder. An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.(obsolete) The discharge of electricity ; a thunderbolt.(figurative) The spotlight.
Another frequently asked query is “How does Lightning affect Thunder?”.
Nebraska started what seemed to be a new tradition this season between the third and fourth quarter when music, a red glow and columns of fire greeted the final 15 minutes of football. The most popular anthem played in that span between quarters? None other than AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck. “.
Striking facts about Lightning: The average temperature of lightning is around 20,000 degrees. A single bolt of lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the sun. There exists two types of lightning, negative and positive strikes and positive strikes are five times more powerful than negative strikes . A flash of lightning is brighter than 10,000,000 100-watt light bulbs., and more items.
What are the effects of lightning and Thunder?
Visual effects (flash): caused by the Townsend avalanche mechanismacoustic effects : caused by the propagation of a shock wave (rise in pressure) originating in the discharge path; this effect is perceptible up to a range of around 10 kmthermal effect: heat generated by the Joule effect in the ionised channel, and more items.
This begs the question “Is it possible to have lightning without thunder?”
No, it is not possible to have lightning without thunder, according to NOAA. Thunder is a direct result of lightning. If you see lightning but don’t hear thunder, it is because the thunder is too far away. Sometimes, people refer to this as heat lightning because it most often occurs in the summer, but it is no different from regular lighting.
Thunder can be heard up to 25 miles away from the lightning discharge, but the frequency of the sound changes with distance from the lightning channels that produce it, because higher frequencies are more quickly absorbed by the air.
What happens when a person is struck by lightning?
With a power of 300 kilovolts, lightning can heat the air up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This combination of power and heat can cause serious damage to the human body. Being struck by lightning may lead to burns, rupturing of the eardrum, eye damage, cardiac arrest, and respiratory arrest.