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Thunderstorm Facts
Lightning bolts are electrostatic discharges, producing heat-triggered sound waves called thunder. According the National Lightning Institute "less than 1% of lightning's energy is converted into sound and the rest is released in the form of light." In fact, thunder is produced as a result of super-hot air (15,000 to 60,000 degrees Fahrenheit) exploding along the lightning's path, which is called an electrical discharge channel. The explosion sends out a shock wave of sound. The reason you see the flash before the crash is that lightning and thunder move at different speeds.
Lightning and the Speed of Light
Lightning travels at the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second, or 300,000 kilometers per second. That would be like a football player running the length of 3,273,600 football fields in one second. The light travels so fast that you see the flash of a lightning bolt almost instantaneously.
Thunder and the Speed of Sound
Thunder takes much longer to reach your ears because it travels at the speed of sound. Sound waves travel approximately one mile every five seconds, or 1,088 feet per second. By comparison, that football player would only have to run 3.66 football fields in one second.
Measuring the TIme Difference
One thing to remember when measuring the time between the flash of lightning and the crash of the thunder is that as a thunderstorm gets closer, the amount of time between thunder and lightning decreases. Using a stopwatch or a watch with a second hand, start timing as soon as the lightning strikes and stop timing as soon as the thunder begins to rumble. Divide the time measured by five seconds (the speed of sound) to find out how many miles away the lightning was when it struck. For instance, if the time between thunder and lightning was 15 seconds, your equation will be 15/5 = 3. The lightning was three miles away.