What is thunder?

Question

What is thunder?

Answer 1

Thunder is the sound lightening makes because the air molecules heat up so fast that they pop and make thunder.

Answer 2

Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the hearer, it can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble. It is produced by a sonic shock wave caused by the rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within a bolt of lightning.

Answer 3

Simply,thunder is the noise of the lightning discharge.
In other words,thunder is a type of 'sonic boom' created by the rapid heating and expansion of air.Ths air should expand faster than the speed of sound to produce the sound .This expansion is caused by the enormous heat(about 54000 degree F) produced by the lightning.
For your information,sonic boom is commonly used ro refer to the shocks caused by the supersonic flights such as concorde aircraft.Sonic booms generate enormous amount of sound energy like an explosion.

Answer 4

Have you ever heard a spark?? A little 'snap'?? Well, lightning is a very powerful spark, like millions of volts!! The 'spark' travels at the speed of light. (186,000 Miles per second.) The thunder is the sound of the giant 'spark', but travelling much slower, at the speed of sound, so if you see lightning around 5 miles away, it takes around 5 seconds for you to hear it. (It travels around 770 MPH.) That 'spark' is so big that it creates a very large SNAP, which echoes all over and creates all kinds of bangs and booms and rumbles....It creates a shockwave similar to a plane breaking the sound barrier....

Answer 5

The sound lightening makes. The sudden burst of heat expands the air around it quickly, causing a shockwave just like a gun shot.

Answer 6

wikipedia
kidsdicover.com
nationalgeographickids.com
Mainly it's the sound following lightning splitting the air.