Why is it called thunder and lightning when lightning actually comes first?

Answer 1

actually its called thunder and lightning coz even though we see the lightning first, its actually thunder which is first... but since light travels faster than sound, we see the lightning first before we can ever hear the roar of the thunder...

Answer 2

The thunder happens first, but you see the lightning first because light travels faster than sound.

Answer 3

It's because lightning is made of light, and light travel faster than the sound of thunder, and thunder always slower than lightning because of diffferent speed velocity between millisecond and a second.

Answer 4

say it however you want. but thunder does come first its just that the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound. so we see the lightning before we hear the thunder...and it sounds better this way.

Answer 5

To put it simply, lightning is electricity. It forms in the strong up-and-down air currents inside tall dark cumulonimbus clouds as water droplets, hail, and ice crystals collide with one another. Scientists believe that these collisions build up charges of electricity in a cloud. The positive and negative electrical charges in the cloud separate from one another, the negative charges dropping to the lower part of the cloud and the positive charges staying ins the middle and upper parts. Positive electrical charges also build upon the ground below. When the difference in the charges becomes large enough, a flow of electricity moves from the cloud down to the ground or from one part of the cloud to another, or from one cloud to another cloud. In typical lightning these are down-flowing negative charges, and when the positive charges on the ground leap upward to meet them, the jagged downward path of the negative charges suddenly lights up with a brilliant flash of light. Because of this, our eyes fool us into thinking that the lightning bolt shoots down from the cloud, when in fact the lightning travels up from the ground. In some cases, positive charges come to the ground from severe thunderstorms or from the anvil at the very top of a thunderstorm cloud. The whole process takes less than a millionth of a second.

Answer 6

They occur simultaneously. However, light travels faster than sound, so you see it before you hear it.

And to keep thunder's feelings from being hurt they give thunder top billing over lightning.

Answer 7

EDIT

Everybody who has answered so far has a valid point but to answer your question culturally & linguistically...

As has been mentioned - Thunder & Lightening actually occur simultaneously - but before science proved this, people witnessed them as two separate events...

There are times when you only hear thunder and don't witness the lightening. Therefore, (before scientific evidence) it would be logical to say "Yesterday, there was thunder AND lightening!"

Answer 8

lightning comes when two clouds colide each other
why the lightning comes first means light travells with a great speed than thunder
velocity of light =3*100000000m/s
velocity of sound = 332m/s

Answer 9

because lightning is a premature ejaculator and thunder comes along nice and slow and takes a longer time to show its stuff but when it does it does so with such a big orgasmic bang

Answer 10

probabaly because thunder might reach to u late but happens earlier than lightning ;-)