How does thunder work

If the thunder sounds more like a rumble, the lightning was at least several miles away. The loud boom that you sometimes hear is created by the main lightning channel as it reaches the ground. Since you see lightning immediately and it takes the sound of thunder about 5 seconds to travel a mile, you can calculate the distance between you and the lightning.

Keep in mind that you should be in a safe place while counting. Remember, if you can hear thunder, chances are that you're within striking distance of the storm. You don't want to get struck by the next flash of lightning. To learn more, see Acknowledgements and References or return to Contents page. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city.

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Travel My Hometown In L. Travel The last artists crafting a Thai royal treasure. Subscriber Exclusive Content. Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars? How viruses shape our world. The era of greyhound racing in the U. Lightning happens when the negative charges electrons in the bottom of the cloud are attracted to the positive charges protons in the ground.

The accumulation of electric charges has to be great enough to overcome the insulating properties of air. When this happens, a stream of negative charges pours down towards a high point where positive charges have clustered due to the pull of the thunderhead. The connection is made and the protons rush up to meet the electrons. It is at that point that we see lightning and hear thunder.

A bolt of lightning heats the air along its path causing it to expand rapidly. Thunder is the sound caused by rapidly expanding air. Skip to main content. Credit: UCAR.