Why does the sound of thunder occur after a lightning flash?

I heard once it was because the speed of sound is slower than the speed of light, so that's why there is a pause between the two. Is that correct?





And also, I was wondering how long the pause between the two takes, and some of the basics of thunder and lighting.Why does the sound of thunder occur after a lightning flash?
Yes


sound is slower than light, both the sound (thunder) and the light (lightning) are created at the exact same time, but the light travels much faster than the sound so you see the lightning first





Basicly, you count out each second it takes for you to hear the thunder after you hear the lightning. Each second it takes for the thunder to arrive after the lightning, means another mile away the lightning was. So, a five second interval means the lightning was about 5 miles away





Lightning is an electrical discharge that occurs in storms when negatively charged particles rub against positively charged ones and they create a spark, in this case a very large spark. Kinda like creating static electricity but on a much larger scaleWhy does the sound of thunder occur after a lightning flash?
The time it takes for the sound to get to you depends on the air density due to temp 1 mile or kilometer is a very good rule of thumb. Thunder is caused by rapid heating of the air.


Like a piece of red hot steel dropped in water makes. It's called the sound of thermal shock.


Lightning is produced in thunderstorms when liquid and ice particles above the freezing level collide, and build up large electrical fields in the clouds. Once these electric fields become large enough, a giant ';spark'; occurs between them, like static electricity, reducing the charge separation. The lightning spark can occur between clouds, between the cloud and air, or between the cloud and ground. Cloud-to-ground lightning usually occurs near the boundary between the updraft region (where the darkest) clouds are, and the downdraft/raining region (with the lighter, fuzzy appearance). Sometimes, however, the lightning bolt can come out of the side of the storm, and strike a location miles away, seemingly coming out of the clear blue sky. As long as a thunderstorm continues to produce lightning, you know that the storm still has active updrafts and is still producing precipitation. The temperature inside a lightning bolt can reach 50,000 degrees F . Objects that are struck by lightning can catch on fire, or show little or no evidence of burning at all.
Yes you are correct, and the pause is not always the same, it depends how far away you are from the lightning strike, the futher away, the longer the thunder takes to get to your ears, that is why you can calculate how far the lightning was, by counting the seconds in between the strike and the thunder, one second equals one kilometre
The flash of lightning and the accompanying thunder occur around the same time. However, lightning is seen first, followed by the sound of thunder after few seconds. This is due to the fact that light wave travels much faster than sound waves.
Light is faster than sound.





The sound is caused by the rapped heating and expansion of the air around the lighting bolt.


It take 5 seconds for sound to travel 1 mile so if you count 15 seconds from the time you see strike until you hear the sound the strike was 3 miles away.
yes it is correct that the speed of sound slower than the speed of light,





reffer to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound


and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light
Yes that's true. The time difference between the lightning and thunder will vary depending on how far the lightning is from you.


Speed of light (c) ~ 3x10^8 m/s


Speed of sound ~ 340 m/s
Yes, it is correct. Sound travels slower than light.





The pause between the two can be calculated if you know the distance and the speed of sound.
The lightning jumps through the air, heating the air and making it expand. The air then quickly contracts again as it cools. This movement of air makes the sound wave called thunder.
Correct.
You are right about speed of light and sound.Both occur at same time How long the pause depend upon the distance where it occurs and where we hear it.
light = faster than sound.
Because sound travels slower than light. You get it with fireworks, too.


'Fraid I can't help you with the details.
Yes, light travel more faster than sound.