• Question: how is the thunder sound made

    Asked by mayawright to Meeks, Pete, Stephen, Steve, Tom on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Marieke Navin

      Marieke Navin answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Hey Maya, i have heard that thunder is a sonic boom, so the heat from the lightening heats the air and causes it to expand and move faster than sound – so you get the sonic boom like when an aeroplace breaks the soundbarrier.

      We do the exact same thing to detect neutrinos, only the “light” version. Light slows down in water, so when a neutrino interacts, it creates another particle that travels *faster* than light (in water). This creates and “optical boom”, a cone of light, which we can detect

    • Photo: Stephen Curry

      Stephen Curry answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Hi again Maya – this is a supplementary to your question about lightning. I have a bit more of an idea about thunder…!

      Sounds are pressure waves in the air – of varying amplitude. The greater the amplitude, the louder the sound. When there is a flash of lightning, a very large electrical current flows through the air (to the ground). This causes very rapid heating of the surrounding air, which causes it to expand and this generates a pressure wave. When this wave reaches our ears, we hear it as thunder.

      We hear the thunder after the flash because sound travels much slower than light.

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