Does the sound of thunder indicate at all how close the lighting is?

Question

If you read my last question,I have a severe fear of thunderstorms.Aside of all the reasons they make me scared,thunder plays a huge role.I know thunder itself can't harm me but I do have a question.Does the sound of thunder indicate at all how close the lighting was?Also,what are the chances of lighting striking my home and (we live in a good trailor) effecting me in some way besides starting a fire?

Answer 1

Actually the safest place to be is inside your trailor during a lightning strike. Electricity will flow over/around your trailor to the ground. If a lightning storm is happening over your trailor, stay off the phone and out of the bath tub until it's over to be the safest. Lightning can follow the wires and pipes to you. I wouldn't worry much about getting struck. Play the lottory, better odds...

Answer 2

its not the thunder that indicates how close the lightning is its the lightning that indicates how close the thunder or the storm is ....because as we know the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound therefore we first see the lightning then hear the thunder...so just start counting the seconds after you see a lightning and as soon as you hear the thunder..stop...that will tell you how far away the storm is.........and about the part where are the chances of lightning striking your house,it depends where your trailoris located...if near a city or in a city you have almost no chances....but if you live in a rural area you sort of have more chances because rural areas are less dense...and dont worry you wont be effected in any way by a ligtning there are barely any chances of a lightning strikingso low on the ground....i mean why think for the worse?....think of it as a natural occurence that just comes and goes!

Answer 3

I used to have a fear of thunderstorms also, so to alleviate these fears, I learned as much about them as I could. How they form, when they can happen, what makes them strengthen and weaken. Knowledge is power. Having said that, the speed of sound at sea level is 1128 feet per second, and the speed of light is approximately 186,282 MILES per second (roughly 9908 times the speed of sound). Impressive. So in conclusion, although I haven't really said anything, the audible sound of thunder usually dies out about 10 miles. So if the math is done right, you can count each second as a mile. People often talk about seeing "heat lightning", which usually occurs on hot and humid days (although it has nothing to do with ambient air temp, but mostly an unstable air mass some distance away), and is not accompanied by thunder. This is a myth. Heat lightning is just cloud-to-cloud lightning (never hitting the ground) that is too far away for the observer to hear the thunder. Hope this helps. Anymore questions, just ask.

Answer 4

I think it's how close the storm is... if you can see the lightning, particularly any streaks, it's close enough that you need to be inside already.

Though for the storm you have to count it right. As soon as we saw a flash of lightening we always counted it as "one one-thousand, two one-thousand...or one firetruck, two fire truck..." and whatever number the thunder comes is how many miles away the storm is.

Believe me, as someone who has had lighting hit our property a number of times...if you pretty much experience an explosion of lightening flash and thunder (outside) at the same exact time, with no delay (and makes you want to "hit the deck" but it's too late), then you know it's right near or over you and too close for comfort. (In that case, if you smell anything, go check to make sure nothing caught fire.) If there is a delay in the thunder after the lightening, then it's not quite *as* close.

Generally, if you are indoors then you will probably be fine. However, it is possible that lightening could attempt to enter by way of the electric. We once had lighting MELT a power surge protector the computer was hooked up to. Thank goodness we had it because it saved the computer. However...though I don't think it will do anything other then fry whatever appliances are hooked up to the effected outlet, my mother did see a flash from the room when the surge protector melted...so I'd watch your feet if they are ever near one in a storm.

Answer 5

Lighting and thunder can be compared to watching a baseball game from the outfield. you will see the ball hit the bat, and several moments later you will hear the impact.
Light travels much faster than sound.

You can calculate the distance to some degree by knowing using the different rates of travel. But beware, as this will only indicate how far the LAST strike was.

Current density, along with the mechanics (friction, etc.) determine where a strike will occur. In the real world this cannot be predicted.

The chances of your particular dwelling being struck, is probably more a function of where you live, than what you live in.

Answer 6

5 secs equal about 1 mile. Your fear is understandable but you take much greater risk crossing the street. (125 to 1 that you would get hit by a car) The odds of getting hit by lighting are about 800,000 to 1. The odds are greater if you are in a high risk group. Like live on top of a mountain or in the highest risk group (golfers). On the bright side lighting is static electricity and static electricity has the property of traveling on the outside of the objects that it hits. This is why that you are not safe under a tree, its also why you are safe in a car (the tires do nothing to help you lighting jumps through air the second greatest insulator of them all, 2 inches of rubber won’t help you) The lighting would hit the car and travel on the outside to ground. You are very safe inside with very few exceptions. If lighting hits your house it’s not going for the wood but pipes or aluminum siding. You can not tell where lighting will strike, the strike will be where ever the air ionize first, it could be a high spot, a low spot, a guy in a large open field holding up a crooked metal stick. If you are inside or in a car I would be more worried about stalkers. I know that this info won’t make you not afraid but maybe it will give you a little comfort. .

Answer 7

I don't know how accurate this explaination is, but I'm gonna list it anyway. lol

"A flash of lightning, followed after some seconds by a rumble of thunder, is for many people the first illustration of the the fact that sound (like light) does not travel instantaneously, and that sound is by far the slower. Using this difference, one can estimate how far away the bolt of lightning is by timing the interval between seeing the flash and hearing thunder. The speed of sound in air is approximately 340 m/s (1100 ft/s). The speed of light is so fast that it can be assumed to be infinite in this calculation. Therefore, the lightning is approximately one kilometer distant for every three seconds (or one mile for every five seconds). Thunder is seldom heard at distances over 15 miles."

Answer 8

the speed of sound is:

344 m/s

or

1128 ft/sec (If you are in the USA)

So, count in seconds and multiply by those numbers (Someone already said about 100ft a second which is right, the 1 mile a second shows how far out urban myths can be from reality).

If your trailer is made of metal it will become a "Faraday Cage" allowing electricity to flow around you safely as long as you don't touch it. If it is plastic it offers no protection at all. The reason for this is you offer more resistance to the electricity than the metal so it prefers to flow through it than you, unfortunately the opposite is true of plastic.

Answer 9

the other answers are right-- if you want to see it in action have some one bounce a basket ball out side about 5 houses away, and you'll hear the bounce after its hit the ground --just imagine the ball is the lightning strike. I've had lightning strike a power pole about 50 ft away from me as i stood in a door way and it was like some one took a picture in my face with the flash on and i could taste the electricity in the air:) make sure your trailers grounded well if your really worried about it.

Answer 10

not necessarily closer.
A smaller lightning will cause as much noise closer to your home than a bigger one much futher.
all lightning do not have the same intensity or strength. That depends of atmospheric conditions. . .

You always see the lightning before you hear the thunder, the closere the two are from each other, the closer they are to you.

The chance of being struck in a trailer should be pretty low. Unless you are in a completely deserted area.... by miles.
Lighting falls on the talls conductive piece of metal.
I 'm guessing your trailer is pretty insulated, so you don't have to worry. And if there is anything in the mile surrounding taller than your trailer, you don't have to worry at all!!!