What Causes the ‘Sound’ in a Thunderstorm?

Thunder is the sound we hear after seeing lightning. When lightning hits, it heats up the air around it really fast, so fast that the air expands like a balloon popping. This makes a big boom, which is thunder. The farther away you are from the lightning, the longer it takes for the sound to reach your ears.

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Examples

  1. Thunder sounds like a big balloon popping in the sky.
  2. You hear thunder after you see lightning because light travels faster than sound.
  3. Sometimes it sounds like the sky is shouting, and sometimes it just whispers.

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Categories: Science · Thunder· Lightning· Acoustics