The return stroke (the current that cause the visible flash) moves upward at a speed of about
320,000,000 ft per second
or about 220,000,000 miles per hour (about 1/3 the speed of light).
How fast is the return stroke?
As the leader charge avalanches toward the ground, the return stroke luminosity propagates toward the cloud base at an average speed of
5 × 10
7
to 2 × 10
8
metres per second
, or approximately one-third the speed of light, and the high-current-carrying core expands to a diameter of a few centimetres.
What is the return path of lightning?
The first return stroke follows the path of
initial downward-progressing stepped leader emerging from the cloud
, and subsequent return strokes are usually initiated by dart leaders propagating downward along channels traversed by the preceding stroke(s).
How fast does lighting travel?
Light from a stationary source travels at
300,000 km/sec
(186,000 miles/sec).
Whats faster light or lightning?
Comparing it with the average lightning speed,
Light is ~ 675.45 times faster
.
What is faster than lightning speed?
The speed of sound in air at sea level moves about 1 mile every 5 seconds. Thus, when you see the lightning count the seconds and divide by 5 to get the approximate distance that the sound of thunder originates from. Note that
the speed of light is much faster than the speed of thunder
.
How fast is the leader of a lightning bolt?
A leader of a bolt of lightning can travel at speeds pf
60,000 meters per second
(13,670 miles per hour), and can reach a temperature approaching 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit), hot enough to convert silica into glass.
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.
What is the difference between a leader and return stroke?
There is a significant difference between return strokes and dart leaders in terms of the variation of luminosity along the channel: the 20-10-80% risetime of the return-stroke light pulses increases and the pulse peak decays as the return-stroke front propagates from ground to the cloud base at about 1.4 km, whereas …
Where is the safest place to be during a thunderstorm?
The safest location during a thunderstorm is
inside a large enclosed structure with plumbing and electrical wiring
. These include shopping centers, schools, office buildings, and private residences.
What is the 30 30 Rule of lightning?
When You See Lightning, Count The Time Until You Hear Thunder.
If That Is 30 Seconds Or Less, The Thunderstorm Is Close Enough To Be Dangerous
– Seek Shelter (if you can't see the lightning, just hearing the thunder is a good back-up rule). Wait 30 Minutes Or More After The Lightning Flash Before Leaving Shelter.
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.
Can humans travel at the speed of light?
Can we travel at the speed of light?
No, we cannot travel at the speed of light
. You see, if an object travels at the speed of light, its mass will increase exponentially!
How fast is a light year in mph?
In a vacuum, light travels at
670,616,629 mph
(1,079,252,849 km/h). To find the distance of a light-year, you multiply this speed by the number of hours in a year (8,766). The result: One light-year equals 5,878,625,370,000 miles (9.5 trillion km).
Are Tachyons real?
A tachyon (/ˈtækiɒn/) or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always travels faster than light.
Physicists believe that faster-than-light particles cannot exist because they are not consistent with the known laws of physics
.
What is the fastest thing in the universe?
Light
travels about 186,270 miles (more than seven times the circumference of Earth) in one second. In modern physics, light is regarded as the fastest thing in the universe, and its velocity in empty space as a fundamental constant of nature.
How fast is a thunder?
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
. It takes sound about 5 seconds to travel one mile. You can observe this for yourself.
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.
Does thunder travel a mile a second?
So sound travels 1 kilometer in roughly 3 seconds and
1 mile in roughly 5 seconds
. When you see the flash of a lightning bolt, you can start counting seconds and then divide to see how far away the lightning struck.
Can lightning power a city?
Lightning is both incredibly powerful and crazy fast. While it's true that
a single lightning bolt could power the entire city of Santa Fe for about a minute
, there are some issues with capturing lightning as an energy source.
How far does lightning travel underwater?
Because seawater is a good conductor, the remaining current penetrates hemispherically downward and fully dissipates less than 10 feet below the surface. It is believed that lethal current spreads horizontally only
20 feet
from the position of strike impact.
Where does lightning strike the most?
Central Africa
is the area of the world where lightning strikes most frequently.
How loud is lightning right next to you?
A clap of thunder typically registers at about
120 dB
in close proximity to the ground stroke. This is 10 times louder than a garbage truck or pneumatic jackhammer drill. By comparison, sitting in front of speakers at a rock concert can expose you to a continuous 120+ dB level.
How far away does lightning have to be to shower?
“Lightning can strike up to
three to 10 or more miles
away from the parent storm.” Experts generally recommend waiting for 30 minutes after you last hear thunder before taking a shower or bath, just to be safe.
Can lightning travel 50 miles?
That lightning bolt can travel a great distance –
up to 25 miles
– from the storm cloud.
