2007-03-27 09:03:46 · 14 answers · asked by J.t 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
Light travels faster than sound.
2007-03-27 09:07:21 · answer #1 · answered by Bayou Brigadier 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The bolt of lightning heats the air suddenly, which expands suddenly like an explosion. That's where the sound we call thunder comes from. So lightening comes first and thunder comes second, even at ground zero where both occur.
Farther away from the bolt, we see the lightening some measurable time before hearing the thunder. That results because light travels at the speed of light: about 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum. Sound, on a good day, travels less than 1,000 mph; about the speed of a jet fighter.
This means that the light from the lightening travels 186,000 X 3,600/1,000 ~ 186,000 X 4 ~ 700,000 times faster than the sound waves from the attending thunder. And that's why you don't see the lightening and hear the thunder at the same time. [Note, I multiplied the speed of light by 3,600 to change the speed into mile per hour rather than per second, to be consistent with the speed of sound given in mph.]
2007-03-27 16:18:20 · answer #2 · answered by oldprof 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lightning and Thunder are born at the same time. Because light travels much faster than sound does. You see the lightning practically the same time it actally occurs, but it takes a few seconds for sound to travel a mile. Thats how thunder is heard for some time after the lightning hits.
2007-03-28 14:22:49 · answer #3 · answered by absolutebalderdash1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They do occur at the same time. However unless you are struck by the lightning bolt, you will be some distance away from the lightning when it strikes.
Since light travels faster than sound, you will see the lightning first, then hear the thunder afterwards. The closer you are to the lightning bolt when it strikes, the closer the sound of thunder will be to the flash of lightning.
2007-03-27 16:09:26 · answer #4 · answered by Joe the Engineer 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
even if the bolt of lightening and clap of thunder occur at the same time in the sky, u will always see the bolt of lightening before you hear the clap of thunder because light travels at 300000000 meters per second (in vacuum but the figure is very similar for the speed of light in air) and the speed of sound is only 330 metres per second. therefore, you will see the lightening much before you hear the clap of thunder.
2007-03-27 16:10:47 · answer #5 · answered by amandac 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They do in Hollywood. Movies and TV defy physics and have the speed of light and the speed of sound the same. Thunder and lightning are always simultaneous on the screen.
2007-03-27 17:10:00 · answer #6 · answered by tentofield 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they do.only we see the lightning before we hear the thunder because light travels faster than sound.
in air,
light travels at 3 x 10 raised to the power 8 metres per sec.
sound travels at approx 336 metres per sec.
compare :P
2007-03-27 16:24:44 · answer #7 · answered by shraishra 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because light travels at 300,000+ kilometres per second (which for lightning is almost instantaneous) and sound in our atmosphere travels at 330 metres per second.
2007-03-27 16:10:39 · answer #8 · answered by Graham B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they do if your right next to it....but sound travels much slower than light 300,000meters a second versus like 350 meters per second.
If it strikes five miles away the light reaches you in a split second, the sound takes a while to travel to you so you hear it after the fact.
2007-03-27 16:08:54 · answer #9 · answered by Justin H 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because sound travels a lot slower than light..
Sound travels at about 750 miles per hour..
Light travels at 186,000 miles per second..
2007-03-27 16:08:14 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋