A typical cloud-to-ground lightning bolt begins when a step-like series of negative charges, called a stepped leader, races downward from the bottom of a storm cloud toward the Earth along a channel at about 200,000 mph (
300,000 kph
). Each of these segments is about 150 feet (46 meters) long.
How fast does lightning move per hour?
The speed of lightning
While the flashes we see as a result of a lightning strike travel at the speed of light (670,000,000 mph) an actual lightning strike travels at a comparatively gentle
270,000 mph
.
Which is faster light or lightning?
Comparing it with the average lightning speed,
Light is ~ 675.45 times faster
.
How far away is lightning in KM?
Calculate the storm distance.
If you want to know approximately how far away is lightning in miles, divide the number of seconds by 5, for kilometers
divide the seconds by 3
.
How fast is lightning per second?
Lightning travels at the speed of light, about
186,000 miles per second
. This means that you see lightning pretty much when it happens. When lightning strikes, a noise is made which we call thunder. Thunder travels much slower, at the speed of sound, about 1088 feet per second.
How Far Can lightning travel?
Lightning can travel
10 to 12 miles
from a thunderstorm. This is often farther than the sound of thunder travels. That means that if you can hear thunder you are close enough to a storm to be in danger of being struck by lightning. When thunder roars go indoors.
How fast can electricity travel?
It's the electromagnetic wave rippling through the electrons that propagates at close to the speed of light. The dimensions of the wire and electrical properties like its inductance affect the exact propagation speed, but usually it will be around 90 per cent of the speed of light –
about 270,000 km/s
.
How far is lightning per second?
| If thunder is heard The lightning is . . . | 5 seconds after a flash 1 mile away | 10 seconds after a flash 2 miles away | 15 seconds after a flash 3 miles away | 20 seconds after a flash 4 miles away |
|---|
Is lightning hotter than the sun?
In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (
5 times hotter than the surface of the sun
). When lightning strikes a tree, the heat vaporizes any water in its path possibly causing the tree to explode or a strip of bark to be blown off.
How fast is the speed of dark?
Darkness travels at the speed of light
. More accurately, darkness does not exist by itself as a unique physical entity, but is simply the absence of light. Any time you block out most of the light – for instance, by cupping your hands together – you get darkness.
What is the 30 30 rule for lightning?
Don't forget the 30-30 rule.
After you see lightning, start counting to 30
. If you hear thunder before you reach 30, go indoors. Suspend activities for at least 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.
How do you calculate lightning distance?
If you
count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder, and then divide by 5
, you'll get the distance in miles to the lightning: 5 seconds = 1 mile, 15 seconds = 3 miles, 0 seconds = very close. Keep in mind that you should be in a safe place while counting.
How long for the thunder to be heard if it strikes 12 km away from your location?
After you see a flash of lightning, count the number of seconds until you hear the thunder. (Use the stop watch or count “One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi, Three-Mississippi,” etc.)
For every 5 seconds the storm is one mile away
. Divide the number of seconds you count by 5 to get the number of miles.
Can you have lightning without thunder?
No, it is not possible to have thunder without lightning
. Thunder starts as a shockwave from the explosively expanding lightning channel when a large current causes rapid heating. However, it is possible that you might see lightning and not hear the thunder because it was too far away.
How much faster is lightning than thunder?
Lightning and thunder happen at the same time. But you see lightning before you hear thunder because light, which travels
a million times faster than sound
, arrives almost instantly. Sound, on the other hand, takes about five seconds to travel one mile.
Can lightning strike a car?
According to NBC 12,
a lightning bolt is so powerful that it could actually go through the tires and melt them
. In reality, it's the car's metal cage that protects the occupants, not the tires. Of course, that might not make sense at first, considering metal is a good conductor of electricity.
Can lightning travel 50 miles?
That lightning bolt can travel a great distance –
up to 25 miles
– from the storm cloud.
How is lightning made?
Lightning happens
when the negative charges (electrons) in the bottom of the cloud are attracted to the positive charges (protons) in the ground
.
Is anything faster than light?
Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity famously dictates that
no known object can travel faster than the speed of light in vacuum
, which is 299,792 km/s. This speed limit makes it unlikely that humans will ever be able to send spacecraft to explore beyond our local area of the Milky Way.
How is electricity so fast?
Since energy and information are carried by fluctuations in the electromagnetic field
, energy and information also travel much faster down an electrical wire than any individual electron.
What is electron speed?
An electron travels at a speed of about
1 cm/sec
. This is about as fast as an ant scurries on the ground. With this simple analysis, we see that the speed of an electron in a wire is incredibly slow compared to the speed of light in air.
Which is first thunder or lightning?
If we are watching the sky,
we see the lightning before we hear the thunder
. That is because light travels much faster than sound waves. We can estimate the distance of the lightning by counting how many seconds it takes until we hear the thunder.
How strong is lightning?
A typical lightning flash is
about 300 million Volts and about 30,000 Amps
. In comparison, household current is 120 Volts and 15 Amps.
