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How to Calculate the Distance of a Lightning Strike

 

We all know how it works. A storm approaches and we suddenly hear the loud sound of a thunder. “Wow! That one stroke near! But how close was it?”. It is difficult to determine the distance just by seeing.

 

Look at the sky and look for a lightning. From that moment on, count the seconds until you hear the sound of the thunder with the help of a wristwatch. Stop counting as soon as you start hearing the sound of the thunder.

 

Divide the time by 3 to learn the distance in kilometers (or by 5 to calculate the distance in miles). For instance, if you count 15 seconds from the lightning until you hear the sound of the thunder, the lightning stroke about 5 Km (3 miles) from you. The time that passes between the light that you see and the sound that you hear occurs because the sound travels in a much slower speed than the light.

 

The speed of sound = 0.340 km/s (approximately 1/3 of a kilometer)

= 0.21 miles/s (approximately 1/5 of a mile).

The speed of light = 299,792 km/s = 186,282 miles/s

 

Additional Information

 

Lightning = The flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere.

Thunder = The sound caused by a lightning stroke.

Lightning bolt = The physical discharge of electrons.

 

Seek shelter immediately if the storm is approaching. You can easily define that by simply measuring the distances of a few lightning from you.

 

The sound travels at different speeds depending on temperature and relative humidity but the difference will be very small.

 

Be careful

 

This is not an exercise to be done in open field. If there are many lightning striking around, seek shelter immediately! Storms travel very fast. You might calculate that the first lightning was 50 km (31 miles) from you but the next lightning can be much closer. And a single lightning bolt can originate in a certain point of a cloud but may strike in another point on the ground kilometers from it. It is well know, for instance, that a tree is not a good place to be under during a storm for it ‘attracts’ lightning bolts; and don’t leave your car, also – go for shelter inside a house.

So, be careful!

 

Source: Comofazer.Wiki.br

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