How do u know how far away lighting is?

Question

well as a little kid i was told if u count the amount of secs it take untill u hear it then thats how many miles it is away but i dont realy belive it

Answer 1

USE A RULER AND MESURE IT

Answer 2

The speed of sound is 330 meters per second.

The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second, so we can consider it as instantaneous.

Therefore, for every second you count after seeing the lighting, the sound has traveled 330 meters, and that is how far the lighting struck.

330 meters is roughly 1/5 of a mile, so counting 5 seconds per mile is a fairly good approximation.

Answer 3

yea, that's what I've always heard, too, the amt. of time between the flash and the sound.

Answer 4

Sound takes 5 seconds to travel one mile (3 seconds to travel 1 km).  Light is instantaneous (at terrestrial distances).

Answer 5

You see then lightning, then you count the seconds until you hear the thunder. 1 second= aprox. 1 mile

This is true because light travels faster than sound.

Answer 6

Its a rough estimate of how far away it is. When you see the flash of a lightning bolt, you can start counting seconds and then divide to see how far away the lightning struck. If it takes 10 seconds for the thunder to roll in, the lightning struck about 2 miles or 3 kilometers away. Sound travels through air at "the speed of sound." Officially, the speed of sound is 331.3 meters per second (1,087 feet per second) in dry air at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). At a temperature like 28 degrees C (82 degrees F), the speed is 346 meters per second. As you can see, the speed of sound changes depending on the temperature and the humidity; but if you want a round number, then something like 350 meters per second and 1,200 feet per second are reasonable numbers to use. So sound travels 1 kilometer in roughly 3 seconds and 1 mile in roughly 5 seconds.



But even lightening that is 10 miles away has hit a person before and recently.

Answer 7

that's what I heard. Count how many seconds between when you hear the thunder and then see the lightning and that's how many miles it is away