A common method of estimating how far a lightning flash is from you is to count the seconds between the flash and the thunder, and divide by three. The result is the distance in kilometers. Explain how this rule works.

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Social Studies

9 November, 18:46

A common method of estimating how far a lightning flash is from you is to count the seconds between the flash and the thunder, and divide by three. The result is the distance in kilometers. Explain how this rule works.

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Aaron Charles · Answer 1

FLASH TO BANG RULE.

Explanation:

The "Flash-To-Bang" theory measures the time from when you see lightning to the time you hear the associated thunder. A measure of 5 seconds from Flash-To-Bang means lightning is one mile (1.6km) away. Ten seconds equals 2 miles (3.2km); 15 seconds equals 3 miles (4.8km).

Light travels faster than sound, so lightning will be seen before hearing it (the thunder is the sound of the lightning strike).

The speed of sound travels at around 340m/s, multiplied by 3 is about 1kilometer. So the number of seconds divided by 3 is how many kilometers away the lightning struck is.

The number of miles away a thunder struck is, can be calculated by dividing the seconds by 5.