Why does thunder follow lightening?

Question

also. why is it that sometimes the sound of thunder is really close to the lightening strike when other times it takes up to 30 seconds for the thunder to boom?

Answer 1

Speed of light is around 300,000km/second. Speed of sound is around 350m/second. So you will always see lightning first. The difference in time depends on how far away is the lightning. The further away, the slower the sound gets to you, because the light will get to you almost instantaneously.

Answer 2

because the speed of light far exceeds that of sound!

Answer 3

When you see lightning, start counting the seconds it takes to hear the Thunder. For every 5 seconds, the lightning is roughly 1 mile away. So, if you see lightning off in the distance, and you count to 7 before you hear the Thunder. The lightning is about 1.5 miles away. If you see the flash, and hear the Thunder immediately, it's right outside. If it takes 10 seconds, it's about 2 miles away.

Answer 4

The speed light is faster than the sound.

And about the second matter........the enviroment, believe it or not, affects with the sound, and also when the thunder is far away you see it inmediatly, and the sound come with more distanciation of seconds