This morning a thunderstorm was in progress and i wanted to bring a few things from around the yard into the garage before it started raining so i went outside not realizing how close the storm was. When i got a few feet from the front door, I heard a sizzle sound (accompanied by the lightning flash) and immediately after (possibly less than a second) the thunder. I decided to try to get to the stuff I wanted to bring into the garage and a few seconds later, again the sizzle and flash, immediately followed by thunder.
This question is not about thunder: I understand that thunder is the sound produced by the discharge of electricity that is lightning. This question is about the sizzle sound that I heard when the flash occurred. If you could drown out the thunder and were close enough to a lightning bolt, would it make a sound?
P.S. I don't think I have to explain that immediately following the second sizzle/flash/thunder I ran into the house like a schoolgirl, heart racing...
2007-08-03 08:15:38 · 13 answers · asked by r_lamonde 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
If you are very close to the lightning you may be hearing the stepped leader, which is the low current discharge that finds the path between cloud and ground and precedes the visible lightning bolt. If that's what you heard then you are lucky it didn't find you! I don't blame you for running into the house.
2007-08-03 08:26:43 · answer #1 · answered by pegminer 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Lightning is essentially a massive electrical spark. Have you ever walked underneath power lines and heard them buzzing? It's the same thing with lightning.
EDIT: The sizzling sound is not thunder. I know, I was sitting twenty feet away when a tree in my back yard got hit by lightning. Thunder, up close, is simply a very loud, very sharp crack. And no, the cracking sound I heard was not the tree coming apart. I've heard that, too, when the top came off of another tree during a later storm. Thunder is the sound made by the expansion of air; the sizzle is the sound made by the electrical current itself.
2007-08-03 08:47:58 · answer #2 · answered by The Electro Ferret 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lightning Bolt Sound
2016-11-07 06:12:10 · answer #3 · answered by tankson 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lightning is nothing but light. "Thunder" is the sound part. As you mentioned, thunder is the sound that is made by the heat of lightning traveling through the air. When lightning occurs, the heat makes the air move away from it very fast. What you heard was the "close-up" version of this sound. It was the air being heated. Simply enough, you heard thunder whispering in your ear. Count your stars.
2007-08-04 10:52:56 · answer #4 · answered by m_moran07 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Lightning is static electricity. Have you ever dragged your feet on the carpet and touched someone, you see the spark and here a slight tic or popping sound. Lighting is the same only amplified 1000's of times over, so it would make a very loud sizzzle or popping sound.
2007-08-03 16:15:18 · answer #5 · answered by curious1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Count yourself lucky. Lightning struck a chimney above me. Everything turned white, the thunder was simultaneous, and the bricks flew in all directions. I don't remember a sizzling sound.
I was out in the boat (wood) and had a couple people laughing at me because my hair was sticking "out". Theirs was too, but they didn't realize it. My neighbor told me later that we were in an ionized zone, and lucky the lightning didn't strike.
2007-08-03 08:45:37 · answer #6 · answered by lyyman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2016-05-01 04:04:25 · answer #8 · answered by karlene 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lighting and thunder are not separate events. They seem separate because of the different travel speeds of light and sound waves.
2007-08-03 09:15:37 · answer #9 · answered by 700BILLIONPOORER 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
think M-Moran has the best answer. Sound of thunder is due to the expansion of air.Sizzling probably the first part of it.
2007-08-06 02:36:34 · answer #10 · answered by Auld D 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋