Just like the bacon and the mozzarella we like to put on pizza, thunder and lightning go together in perfect harmony

Jan 16, 2015 21:14 GMT  ·  By

Yet another workweek has gone by, which can only mean one thing: it’s time to get busy deciphering another of our small world’s little mysteries. Last week, we talked about the magic of turning corn into popcorn.

This Friday, we’re going to discuss why it is that thunder always accompanies lightning. Lightning is basically a sudden spark of electricity, thunder is sound. We don’t hear odd noises when we turn on our night lamps, so why is it that these two phenomena are inseparable?

First things first, here’s how nature creates lightning

If we’re going to understand thunder and why it occurs, we must first take the time to get a better idea of what that spark in the skies that we call lightning is and how it comes into being during extreme weather events such as storms.

Fret not, it’s not all that complicated. Simply put, lightning is an electric discharge that produces visible light. As explained by scientists, storm clouds produce lightning because there is a whole lot of commotion going on deep inside them.

Contrary to what some might think, clouds aren’t made of mashed potatoes, though some of them sure look like they are. They comprise water in the form of droplets and teeny tiny bits and pieces of ice, which are forever shuffling.

The water droplets are carried upwards by drafts, and once exposed to low temperatures, they freeze and fall. Meanwhile, a new batch of droplets gets sent to the top of a cloud. Inevitably, the ice and the water meet, and when this happens, electrons are sent bouncing all around.

These electrons gather around at the bottom of the cloud, giving it a negative charge. Because the water molecules going upwards lost some of their electrons on their journey, they give the top of the cloud a positive charge. It is these distinct electrical fields that birth lightning.

Quite often, lightning comes into being within just one cloud, maybe two or more. However, it can also happen for a cloud’s negatively charged bottom to attract positive charges on the ground. This is when lightning descends towards us.

OK, so what’s the deal with thunder?

When travelling through the air, lightning heats it to about 30,000 degrees Fahrenheit (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit). Just to put things into perspective, it need be said that this temperature is the equivalent of about five times the one documented on the surface of the Sun.

When heated to this insanely hot temperature in the blink of an eye, the air in the immediate vicinity of a lightning bolt forcefully expands. As a result, the somewhat cooler air idling in its proximity, clueless about what is happening around it, is compressed.

The thing about this air that lighting likes to mess with is that it cools almost as fast as it heats. When cooling, it contracts. This commotion creates a Shockwave that we call thunder.

Otherwise put, thunder is the noise produced by air in the vicinity of a lightning bolt when heating and cooling. Depending on the properties of the air that creates it, thunder can manifest itself as a sudden crack or as a rumbling.

The reason why we first see a lightning bolt and only later hear the thunder produced by it is because light travels faster than sound. Hence, it’s the first to reach us. Interestingly enough, it sometimes happens that we hear no crack or rumbling after seeing a lightning bolt strike.

Specialists say that, in such cases, the most likely explanation is that the two phenomena occurred too far away for thunder to reach us. Still, it can also be that the properties of the air hit by lightning prevented thunder from forming in the first place.

So, there you have it, this is how lightning and thunder occur. Join us again next week for another Freaky Friday Mystery, and should you happen to have some burning question that won’t let you sleep at night, let us know in the comments section below, maybe even send us a message and ask.