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Why Do We Hear Thunder Several Seconds After Seeing Lightning?
为什么先看到闪电，几秒后才听到雷声？
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Light travels nearly a million times faster than sound—about 300,000 km per second versus 343 m per second.
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Because lightning and thunder happen simultaneously, the delay tells us how far away the storm is.
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Counting seconds between flash and bang and dividing by three gives distance in kilometers.
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Sound bends and scatters as it passes through varying air temperatures and wind layers, causing rumbling.
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Nearby strikes produce sharp, loud cracks; distant ones sound like low, rolling booms.
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Temperature gradients in the atmosphere can refract sound waves, making thunder audible farther than expected.
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Mountains or buildings may echo thunder, stretching it out or creating multiple arrival points.
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Thunder cannot travel through vacuum—so no sound occurs on the Moon, even during lightning-like discharges.
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Meteorologists combine lightning maps with thunder timing to triangulate storm cell movement and intensity.
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Wearing headphones during storms won’t mute thunder—it’s the pressure wave itself vibrating your eardrums.