Flash of lightning reaches us earlier than the sound of thunder. Explain the reason.
Answers
♠ Answer:
The roar of thunder is the result of a shock wave produced when lightning super-heats the air through which it passes, causing that air to expand very rapidly. This rapid expansion of air creates a shock wave that travels outward at close to the speed of sound which is around 741 mph or 1,192 kph (exact speed of sound varies with air pressure and temperature, but it does not vary enough to be relevant to this answer). Light, on the other hand, travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 km per second).
♦ Consequently, the flash of light that we see travels from the lightning bolt that created it to our eyes so quickly that we might as well just think of it as instantaneous. Sound, however, takes approximately 5 seconds to travel one mile (3 seconds to travel one kilometer) resulting in the delay we notice in the sound of thunder.
♠ Explanation:
♦ Lightning is seen earlier than thunder because light travels much faster than sound. The roar of thunder is the result of a shock wave produced when lightning super-heats the air through which it passes, causing that air to expand very rapidly.