It makes sense that lightening reaches us faster bcoz it travels at the speed of light while thunder travels at the speed of sound. But shouldn’t it last for same duration as thunder?
In: Physics
A few things are going on here.
First, different parts of the bolt are at different distances from you. Even if you had a theoretical bolt that was one straight line from cloud to ground, the portion hitting the ground is closer to you than the part in the cloud. The whole column of air gets superheated, making thunder. So you’ll hear the thunder generated by the closest part of the bolt to you first then hear it rumble along as the thunder from more distant parts of the bolt reach you. Now add in that most bolts change directions and fork, the resulting thunder will be heard with some variations depending on the distances of different parts of it.
Second, sound reflects. Sound bounces off hills, buildings, and just about anything else, essentially creating echoes that you hear even after the initial sound waves have reached you.
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