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Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning produces rapid expansion of the air in the path of a lightning bolt . [ 4 ]
For instance, lightning strikes the Empire State Building in New York City on average 23 times per year. [249] Heat lightning does not exist as a distinct phenomenon. What is mistaken for "heat lightning" is usually ordinary lightning from storms too distant to hear the associated thunder. [250]
The flash of a lightning strike and resulting thunder occur at roughly the same time. But light travels 300,000 km/sec, almost a million times the speed of sound. Sound travels at the slower speed of about 340 m/sec (depending on the temperature), so the flash of lightning is seen before thunder is heard. A method to determine the distance ...
Lightning is a natural phenomenon formed by electrostatic discharges through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions, either both in the atmosphere or one in the atmosphere and one on the ground, temporarily neutralizing these in a near-instantaneous release of an average of between 200 megajoules and 7 gigajoules of energy, depending on the type.
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The heavy snowfall tends to muffle the sound of the thunder so that it sounds more like a low rumble than the loud, sharp bang that is heard during regular thunderstorms. [2] Thundersnow can occur during a normal snowstorm that sustains strong vertical mixing which allows for favorable conditions for lightning and thunder to occur.
Thunderstorms are commonly depicted as the rage of the deity which is associated with it.. Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder god, the personification or source of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction, and will vary based on the culture.
Dianmu also appears in Wu Cheng'en's late 16th-century novel, the Journey to the West; she appears during the events of the Slow Cart Kingdom (車遲國, Chechi), where three 'Animal Strength/Power Immortals', "Tiger Strength", "Deer/Elk Strength" and "Goat/Antelope Strength", three demons who disguised themselves as Taoist magicians to deceive the King of the Kingdom of Chechi, by means of ...