What exactly is the sound of thunder?

Question

What exactly is the sound of thunder?

Answer 1

Thunder is made when lighting super heats the air.  The air then expands at a fantastic rate creating the sound we know as thunder.  Drag your feet across a rug and touch a metal door k**b.  The spark that jumps from the doorknob to your finger is lightning, and the pop you hear is your own thunder.

Answer 2

Lightning super heats the column of air that it passes through, causing the air to expand rapidly.  The sound of thunder is when that column of air rapidly cools and collapses back into that space.

Answer 3

THUNDER is the sound of a shockwave, created by lightning.

Lightning creates thunder by rapidly heating the surrounding air. The heated air expands explosively and compresses the air immediately around the heated area.

In the compressed region the air pressure is higher and when the "pressure jump" reaches your ear it is sensed as (that is, you hear the sound of) thunder.

Answer 4

thunder is actually the sound of lightning.

Answer 5

KABOOOOOOOOM!!!

Answer 6

Siumply,it is the sound of the lightning discharge.A lightning discharge is a large scale example of an electric spark and the sound of thunder is similar to the sound producd by the common electric spark.

Answer 7

2 electric fields coming into contact in a BIG way.

Answer 8

It is a boom from lightning but it is also a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury which was made into a a 2005 film directed by Peter Hyams.

Answer 9

Result of lightening -

Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener, 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 creates a sonic shock wave which produces the sound of thunder.

Answer 10

shish boom bah!

Answer 11

it goes booom

Answer 12

the sound barrier. Like a sonic boom from a jet. Lightning causes air to expand rapidly. Counting the seconds between flash and boom can tell you how far away it is because light travels faster than sound. Generally, 1 mile per second. to get more accurate numbers, calculate the difference between the speed of sound and the speed of light.

Answer 13

When enough charge builds up in a thunderstorm, the molecules in the air break down (called dielectric breakdown) and form a plasma channel for the electrons to flow through to relieve the charge (lightning).  This ionization causes rapid heating of the air, which causes it to expand explosively, creating a shockwave which we hear as thunder.  From close up, we hear the shockwave head-on and it sounds like a loud clap, but from further away, the shockwave has rebounded off of many surfaces and sounds longer and drawn out.

Answer 14

It is a static explosion of millions of volts in the air producing ozone (O3). That is also why there is the smell of rain, which its really ozone