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What causes thunder?

Thunder is caused by lightning, which is essentially a stream of electrons flowing between or within clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. The air surrounding the electron stream is heated to as hot as 50,000 degrees Farhenheit, which is three times hotter than the surface of the sun. As the superheated air cools it produces a resonating tube of partial vacuum surrounding the lightning's path. The nearby air rapidly expands and contracts. This causes the column to vibrate like a tubular drum head and produces a tremendous crack. As the vibrations gradually die out, the sound echoes and reverberates, generating the rumbling we call thunder.The speed of sound is even more insignificant when compared to the speed of light. The light from the flash reaches us in a fraction of a second, whereas the sound lags along like a snail following an interplanetary rocket.

The audiovisual spectacle of thunder and lightning is a combination of the dynamics of the vibration of air molecules and their disturbance by electrical forces. It is an awesome show--and one that reminds all of us of the powers of nature and our own insignificance in relation to them.
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1. December 17th 2011 @ 03:19. Norm Says:
It goes to show you that. Thunder is like inspiration. You never know where it will land. But when it does. You can see it a mile off. And hear about it later. And it scares me to death. The irony is. I'm using electricity right now. To get these words to you. To shed some light on my mind. Electrical signals. We don't invent anything. Nature hasn't already thought of. Like. The globe that sits on our shoulders. Is a microcosm of the world at large. A big soup. With lightning as brain function. And thought as thunder. One before the other. Anyway. Enough of all that. The further away it is from me the better. Thank you.

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