What purpose, other than loud noise, does thunder serve?

Question

Everything in God's creation serves a purpose. Each flash of lightning replenishes the O-zone layer, rain nourishes and shapes the earth. What higher purpose does thunder serve?

Answer 1

Thunder is the sound that we hear when the superheated air split apart by lightning cools and slams together again. Among other things, it serves the purpose of demonstrating that the laws of physics apply everywhere.
Whenever we see something that appears to be a suspension of the natural laws, we call it a miracle. However, there is nothing miraculous or strange about the generation of sound (thunder) after a lightning strike. Smarter people than I could write it all down in equations.
While I believe that God had a plan when he created nature, I'm not sure I need to struggle over the purpose for every element. It's been my experience that understanding the purpose of things like thunder and tadpoles is usually the result of a unique, eye-opening experience. I haven't had such an experience with regard to thunder.

Answer 2

Lightning is a powerful natural electrostatic discharge produced during a thunderstorm. This abrupt electric discharge is accompanied by the emission of visible light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The electric current passing through the discharge channels rapidly heats and expands the air into plasma producing acoustic shock waves (thunder) in the atmosphere.

It occurs because it does- no particulare rhyme or reason and lightning does not replenish the ozone layer.
Thunder is simply an aftershock of the lightning which super heated and then super cooled the air around it.

Answer 3

Nothing in nature serves a purpose.
Lightnings energize atmosphere and O2 binds with O and form O3, but ozone layer is not the place lighting happens, if that was so, O3 would strongly react with other gases and we will lose more than today's loss.
Rain does NOT nourish soil, it wets it. Nourishment come from mineral salts, organic matter ans other sources. If what you say were true, then desert land would become and remain prairies, but when water is gone, there's no vegetal life supported.
Thunder is a by-product of clouds.
Nothing less, nothing more.

Answer 4

Thunder can be a determinate for estimating the distance a lighting strike has hit from the observer.

Thunder can also serve as a warning for humans and other animals to exit an area that will be potentially experiencing a significant weather event.

Answer 5

The sound of thunder is just the shockwave generated by the lightning strike.

It's incredibly useful in letting you know exactly how far from your location lighting occured. By counting seconds, and knowing that sound travels approximately a mile a second, you know if you're at ground zero or 20 miles away from the strike.

Answer 6

It doesn't have a purpose really. Lightning is created by static electricity in the clouds, which also makes a sound. The light reaches you faster than the noise so it sounds like two different things.

Answer 7

Thunder is the result of lightning.

It's purpose, if purpose is to be found, is to follow. I guess you could use it to measure the distance to the lightning...

But why must everything have a purpose? Does dust have a purpose? Does toe jam?

Some things are incidental, I suspect.

Answer 8

Its an after affect of lightning, When lightning strikes it super heats the air around it, and causes the loud cracking noise we hear as thunder.

Answer 9

Just like thunder you are a produce of nature, what purpose are you serving. What makes you think nature is here to serve you and that you are above it?

Answer 10

Why does everything have to have some underlying purpose. There is no God, thunder just exists as a function of nature.