When you see lightning, and then 5 seconds later you hear thunder, does that mean the storm is 5 miles away?

Question

When you see lightning, and then 5 seconds later you hear thunder, does that mean the storm is 5 miles away?

Answer 1

Actually it means the storm is one mile away. Because the number of seconds divided by five.

Answer 2

My husband believes that but IDK

Answer 3

No, that means the flash of lightning was about 1 mile away... sound travels at 1129 feet per second and there are 5280 feet in one mile.

Answer 4

Nope,every 5 seconds is a mile. :)

Answer 5

No not at all. It takes the sound of thunder to travel 1/5 of a mile every second. So, for every five seconds, that means the sound of thunder travels one mile. If a storm were 5 miles away, it would take 25 seconds for the sound of thunder to reachy you.

Answer 6

no - it's 5 seconds for every mile

The lightning flash travels at 186,000 miles per second (the speed of light) so is seen instantaneously.

The sound caused by the lightning travels at the speed of sound - approx 760 miles per hour

= 760 miles in 60 mins

= 76 miles in 6 mins

= 76 miles in 360 seconds

(divide both by 76)

= 1 mile in 360/76 seconds

= 1 mile in 4.7 seconds (ie approx. 5 seconds)

So for every 5 seconds you count, the storm is 1 mile away