Can Thunder Hurt Us??

Answer 1

Not the thunder, but the LIGHTNING!!!

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. The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within a bolt of lightning. In turn, this expansion of air produces a sonic shock wave which produces the sound of thunder.

So, it's the lightning itself (that causes the thunder indirectly) that is dangerous!

UPDATE: I see several people here talking about "damage to the eardrums". Thunder is rated at approximately 120 decibels, according to http://www.lhh.org/noise/facts/evironment.html . I don't know where they get the information from that it could damage your ears, but to do that, you need about 140-150 dB. So, STATE YOUR SOURCES PLEASE!!!!

Answer 2

No, not physically. It can have an effect psychologically. Some people have a thunder phobia. I know a fellow served in Vietnam who still suffers from shell shock. He has to take a time out when it is thundering.

Answer 3

If you are close enough that thunder hurts you, you are too close to the lightning.

Thunder, if loud enough, could in theory hurt your eardrums.

UPDATE: Those who doubt that thunder can hurt your eardrums talk about decibels. Thunder at 120 decibels in the middle distance will dissipate before becoming painful. My statement was - and remains - if you are close enough to feel pain from the thunder, you got a thermal pressure wave that is more like an explosion - and that can puncture an eardrum. Also, you are close enough to the lightning that made the thunder that you were at risk anyway.

Answer 4

no thunder is violent air currents inside cumulonimbus clouds that cause ice crystals in the clouds to crash into each other. These collisions create friction and splitting, which creates static electricity. Positive charges build up at the top of a cloud and negative ones build up at the bottom. The ground underneath is positively charged. The difference between charges gets bigger until lightning sparks across the gap. The amount of energy stored by a cumulonimbus cloud is so huge that is it of the same scale as a small atomic bomb.

Answer 5

Of course it can, it's like asking "Can sticking our thumbs into the electric plug hurt us?"
The most common injury is hearing. If the thunder is too close it will break your eardrums and render you temporarily deaf. In severe cases you will become permanently deaf.
The rarer cases involve being electrocuted by thunder. It gives your brain a shock and causes it to shut down, its heat (if I remember right it's as hot as the surface of the sun) will fry you alive, and in some cases, set you on fire.

Answer 6

Well, interesting:

According to this: http://www.fema.gov/kids/thunder.htm
Thunder won't hurt you, lightning will...

BUT...

According to this article here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A02E2D8113AE733A25752C2A96E9C946797D6CF
"THUNDER WRECKS BUILDING.; Concussion Shakes It Down -- Three Hurt, One Seriously."

So... If we have to believe that article, it is indirectly possible to be hurt by thunder!!!

But the article is written in 1906 and the building was already partly torn down...

Answer 7

Nope! Thunder is just the sound after the lightning flashes. Its just the Lightning that can strike you. I' m in Earth science as a 9th grade and they say 200 people die a year by being struck by lightning :(

Answer 8

Nope, but the lightning that produces the sound that we call thunder could potentially hurt us.
Regardless... I'm still afraid of Thunderstorms!!!

Answer 9

If the lightening is close enough the volume of the thunder could damage your ears.
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Answer 10

no thunder is just the sound of lightning so technically only lightning can hurt you not thunder