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Thunder is the shockwave radiating away from the strike path. When the air heats up, it expands rapidly, creating a compression wave that propagates through the surrounding air. This compression wave manifests itself in the form of a sound wave. That does not mean that thunder is harmless. On the contrary, if you are close enough, you can feel the shockwave as it shakes the surroundings. Keep in mind that when a nuclear explosion occurs, typically the most destruction is caused by the energy of the rapidly moving shockwave. In fact, the shockwave that produces the thunder from a lightning strike can most certainly damage structures and people. This danger is more prominent when you are close to the strike, because the shockwave is stronger there and will dampen (decrease) with distance. Physics teaches us that sound travels much slower than light, so we see the flash before we hear the thunder. In air, sound travels roughly 1 mile every 4.5 seconds. Light travels at a blazing 186,000 miles (299,000 kilometers) per second.
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
Light travels faster than sound. When lightning strikes, light reaches you almost instantaneously, while the sound of thunder, which is caused by the rapid expansion of air heated by the lightning, takes longer to reach you. This delay results in seeing the lightning before hearing the thunder.
Wiki User
∙ 6y agoYou don't....... You always will see lightning before you hear thunder unless the storm it came from is very very far away, which would mean that the thunder would b extremly loud.
The lightning moves so fast you cant realy hear the thunder, but it is there
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoBecause the lightning is just to far away from us. When the sound waves first start to travel, they have lots of energy, so the peaks are tightly packed. As the sound waves travel farther, they start to lose energy. When the waves lose all of their energy, they are flat. The reason you cannot hear the thunder is because the sound waves did not have enough energy to reach your ears.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoThe speed of light is faster than the speed of sound. So when lightning occurs, you can see it sooner than you then hear it. The further away you are from the lightning, the longer it takes for you to hear it. If lightning occurs right near you, you see the flash and hear the thunder at the same time.
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoIt is too far away to be heard. Generally speaking, you can't hear thunder that is generated more than 10 miles (16 km) away.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoYes. The Lightning is too Far away to see.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agohello
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Can you see thunder or lightning?
You see lighting and hear thunder.
If you see lightning and didn't here thunder what dose that mean?
If you see lightning but don't hear thunder, it means the lightning is far away. The speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound, so you usually see lightning before you hear the associated thunder.
Why are you hearing thundering after lightning?
A lightning flash travels at the speed of light. The sound of thunder travels much slower. Therefore, we see the flash before we hear the thunder.
What happens when there is lightning but no thunder?
Thunder is the sound caused by lightning, there is always thunder with lightning. If you cannot hear thunder maybe that is because you are too far away from the storm.
Why don't the thunder and lightning come together?
Thunder and lighting do occur together during a thunderstorm. Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity in the atmosphere, which creates the bright light that we see, while thunder is the sound created by the rapid expansion of air around the lightning bolt. Light travels faster than sound, so we see the lightning before we hear the thunder.
Can you see thunder or lightning?
You see lighting and hear thunder.
Do you see or hear lightning?
You can see lightning but you cannot hear it directly. The sound you hear is thunder, which is created by the rapid heating and cooling of air surrounding a lightning bolt.
Why do you see thunder after you see the flash of lightning?
You see the flash of lightning before you hear the thunder because light travels faster than sound. The light from the lightning reaches your eyes almost instantly, while the sound of thunder takes longer to travel through the air to reach your ears.
Why do you often hear thunder when you see lightning?
You often hear thunder when you see lightning because lightning produces a sudden and rapid heating of the air around it, causing it to expand quickly. This rapid expansion creates a shock wave that we hear as thunder. The farther away you are from the lightning, the longer it takes for the sound to reach you.
If you see lightning and didn't here thunder what dose that mean?
If you see lightning but don't hear thunder, it means the lightning is far away. The speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound, so you usually see lightning before you hear the associated thunder.
How come you see lighting and do not hear it and how come you hear thunder and do not see it?
You see lightning before you hear it because light moves faster than sound. Thunder comes from the lightning. You can't hear it until the sound waves reach you.
Is thunder the same as lightning?
Thunder and lightning occur roughly at the same time during a thunderstorm, but they are different things. Typically you see the lightning first and then you hear the thunder.
Why do sometimes hear thunder at about the same time you see flash of lightning but other times you hear thunder after the flash?
When you hear thunder and see lightning simultaneously, it means that the lightning strike is very close to you. When you hear thunder after seeing the lightning, it indicates that the lightning strike is further away. Sound travels slower than light, so there is a delay between seeing the flash and hearing the thunder, depending on the distance of the lightning strike.
Why do you see lightning before you see thunder in terms of wave theory?
You see lightning first because light travels faster then sound.Also, you don't see thunder - you hear it.
How do you hear thunder?
lightning heats the air which we hear as thunder
Why is there a delay between the lightning an thunder?
The delay between seeing lightning and hearing thunder is due to the difference in speed between light and sound. Light travels much faster than sound, so we see the lightning first and then hear the thunder a few seconds later, allowing us to estimate the distance of the storm.
Why during a thunder storm you see lightning first then you hear thunder?
Because light travels faster than sound
