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- Jun 12, 2018
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I am trying to get a visual picture of what thunder looks like. Read several articles but none go into all the details. The explanation for thunder is stated as air channel created, shock wave created, thunder created. I did find one discouraging fact, lightning out of the blue is lightning from the rear of a thunder storm that can travel up to 25 miles before it gets tired of flying through the sky, at which point it starts angling for the Earth.
Thunder starts off by the lightning bolt creating a super hot air channel around it as the bolt heads for the ground or to another cloud. The hot air blasts outward all along the lightning bolt creating a shockwave which turns into audible thunder.
NOAA says "Thunder can seem like it goes on and on because each point along the channel produces a shock wave and sound wave."
Each point along the channel produces a shock wave and sound wave. Does this mean the points are an inch apart, a foot apart, or is the channel the length between bends in the bolt.
The lightning bolt sets up in a millionth of a second. Does this mean that the resulting air channels and shockwaves are set up so quickly that they are just very simple outlines along the entire length.
Does the entire length of the shockwave head away from the lightning bolt at the same rate so it would look like a cylinder with parallel walls.
If it doesn't have parallel walls, is it expanding into the shape of a cone.
What happens at the places where the bolt bends, does the shockwave turn corners or does it create two shockwaves, one going in the original direction, the second one following the new direction the bolt has taken.
Does the shockwave dissipate uniformly along the entire length of the bolt all at once, or does it collapse starting at one end, or starts from both ends, or starts in the middle going to the ends.
How long does the super heated air channel last compared to the lightning or is it gone the moment the lightning stops and only the expanding shockwave is left.
The lightning we see travels from the ground to the air. The start of the lighting bolt is a test path from the cloud looking for the ground. If you are close enough to the lightning the first sound is a cracking sound before the thunder starts. Is that the first pop of sound from the initial strike before the shockwave starts, separate from the thunder sound. Or is it the leading edge of the shockwave before it starts "rolling."
Is there any reverberation in thunder or does the shockwave just create one wave of sound that dies out.
Thanks for any visualizations of what thunder looks like.
Thunder starts off by the lightning bolt creating a super hot air channel around it as the bolt heads for the ground or to another cloud. The hot air blasts outward all along the lightning bolt creating a shockwave which turns into audible thunder.
NOAA says "Thunder can seem like it goes on and on because each point along the channel produces a shock wave and sound wave."
Each point along the channel produces a shock wave and sound wave. Does this mean the points are an inch apart, a foot apart, or is the channel the length between bends in the bolt.
The lightning bolt sets up in a millionth of a second. Does this mean that the resulting air channels and shockwaves are set up so quickly that they are just very simple outlines along the entire length.
Does the entire length of the shockwave head away from the lightning bolt at the same rate so it would look like a cylinder with parallel walls.
If it doesn't have parallel walls, is it expanding into the shape of a cone.
What happens at the places where the bolt bends, does the shockwave turn corners or does it create two shockwaves, one going in the original direction, the second one following the new direction the bolt has taken.
Does the shockwave dissipate uniformly along the entire length of the bolt all at once, or does it collapse starting at one end, or starts from both ends, or starts in the middle going to the ends.
How long does the super heated air channel last compared to the lightning or is it gone the moment the lightning stops and only the expanding shockwave is left.
The lightning we see travels from the ground to the air. The start of the lighting bolt is a test path from the cloud looking for the ground. If you are close enough to the lightning the first sound is a cracking sound before the thunder starts. Is that the first pop of sound from the initial strike before the shockwave starts, separate from the thunder sound. Or is it the leading edge of the shockwave before it starts "rolling."
Is there any reverberation in thunder or does the shockwave just create one wave of sound that dies out.
Thanks for any visualizations of what thunder looks like.