What causes thunder. Why does thunder occur? Why does thunder rumble during a thunderstorm? How thunderclouds form

Why the thunder seems to be rumbling and everyone knows, but it’s somehow difficult to explain this fact. Of course, we are not ancient people and we no longer believe in the wrath of the gods, at least in its present manifestation. Everything in nature, including thunder, has its own natural cause.

A bit of history

Of course, thunderclouds look impressive and even menacing in some ways. And when they are cut by the dazzling brilliance of lightning and a massive roll of thunder is heard, the whole force of natural phenomena becomes visible with one's own eyes. At such moments, a person is especially keenly aware of his insignificance. But this was mostly due to the fact that people did not know the reasons for what was happening. They came up with a deity who showed his anger to humanity in this way. About the pantheon of the gods of what civilization would not have been discussed, but everywhere there was a thunderer and he ruled everyone, was the strongest of the gods. Now in none of the world religions there is no indication that this natural phenomenon has a supernatural basis. People have studied and explained everything they feared for centuries.

Why does thunder happen in nature?

So, a bolt from the blue is nothing more than a metaphorical phrase. It doesn't really exist, it's nonsense. Therefore, it is inextricably linked with a thunderstorm and the corresponding type of clouds. There are several different types of clouds - these are mother-of-pearl, cirrus, cirrocumulus and cumulus. They all differ from each other in appearance and structural features. It is a thundercloud that, as a rule, arises in the process of collision of various air masses. In this form of a cloud, especially in its upper part, a large number of tiny ice crystals are formed. Thanks to this process, the entire upper part of the cloud begins to be covered with a specific white veil, and the cloud itself slowly, gradually acquires an increasingly dark, like lead color.

Well, so to speak, the ground for lightning and the thunder that invariably accompanies it is already ready. Water droplets point-to-point touch ice needles and air particles, as a result of all this they quickly become electrified. When the water, together with the pieces of ice, becomes heavy enough to overcome the resistance from the air, it begins to fall down, thereby transferring its negative charge from the upper to the lower part of the thundercloud. This is how it rains. There is a parallel accumulation of negative charges at the bottom and positive charges at the top of the thundercloud. Having remembered a little some school lessons in physics, one can easily guess what happens next: the top and bottom of the cloud begin to attract each other with increasing force. This is how a voltage arises, sometimes just a colossal power of tens or even hundreds of millions of volts, in fact, it generates a spark - what we call lightning. She immediately rushes to the ground. But at the same time, it greatly heats up the air around it, yet its temperature can be up to 25,000 ° C, and thereby creates pressure. As soon as it has passed, the air is compressed again. But this compression is accompanied by a sort of crackling sound. This is the thunder. We hear it in waves, so to speak, peals, because from the physics course at school we remember that a sound wave is reflected more than once from the surface, both clouds and the earth. There is little time between light and sound. It's just the speed of sound.

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The most breathtaking natural phenomenon on earth, without exaggeration, can be called a thunderstorm. She is both beautiful when she pierces the sky with her rays and terrible when thunder rolls are heard. Let's find out what happens in the sky during a thunderstorm.

Everyone who studied at school probably remembers from physics lessons that clouds collect a charge of electricity in themselves. The formation of thunderclouds is facilitated by high temperatures (in tropical latitudes, for example).

The cloud gradually increases, rising to the upper layers of the atmosphere where the temperature is already negative, thus, the formation of heavy ice crystals begins. The color of the cloud becomes dark, acquiring a "lead" hue.

When colliding with air particles, ice crystals and water droplets are electrified inside the cloud. As a result, drops of water and ice falling, transfer a negative charge to the lower part of the cloud. At this time, there is an attraction of the upper part of the cloud - positively charged and the lower part of the cloud - which is negatively charged.

A very large voltage of hundreds of millions of volts arises between the upper and lower parts of the cloud. A huge spark appears between the earth and a cloud several kilometers long - this is lightning.

The resulting flash heats the air, which is why it "bursts" and this explosion is called thunder. It rumbles with peals, echoing. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that the speed of light is much higher than the speed of sound, because of this, lightning is visible immediately, and we hear thunder after a few seconds.

Such complex atmospheric phenomena lead to the formation of lightning and thunderclouds.

Thunderstorm is a frightening phenomenon. No matter where we are. At home or on the street. It's still scary. Dazzling glare, rolling rumble are frightening. Sounds seem to catch up with each other, now approaching, then moving away. In ancient times, people considered the roar of heaven to be the wrath of the gods. And lightning - a punishing sword. But we understand that these phenomena have a more earthly explanation. Why does thunder rumble? Why is he inseparable from lightning? Why does it rain during a thunderstorm?

How are thunderclouds formed?

There is water in the air. As a couple. Under the influence of high air temperature, warm steam rises from the water surface of the earth. Warm air pushes it in from below.

Temperatures are lower in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The higher the water vapor rises, the colder it becomes around it. Accordingly, it cools down.

The atmosphere contains more than just gases and water. There is also dust. The cooled steam condenses around its smallest particles. Small water droplets and ice floes turn into clouds. They are different. In the form of feathers or huge piles, white stripes on the heavenly slope or torn rags.

Thunderclouds are formed due to the collision of air masses. Then many, many water crystals gather in the upper part. It turns out a kind of white dense veil. It illuminates the whole cloud with cold, which acquires a rich shade of lead. That is why we call such clouds “lead”, “heavy”.

Spawn of thunder and lightning

Thunderclouds spawn glimmers. And lightning, in turn, is a celestial roar. How does this happen? Why does thunder rumble?

1. Droplets and ice particles at the top of a thundercloud interact with air molecules and are charged with electricity. When they get heavy, they fall down. So the lower part of the cloud becomes negatively charged.

2. At the same time, a positive charge accumulates at the top of the cloud. Plus and minus attract.

3. Under the influence of the attraction of positive and negative, tension arises. Given the size of the cloud (up to ten kilometers wide), this voltage reaches hundreds of millions of volts. This is how lightning is born.

4. A spark emerging from a cloud follows to the ground. Its temperature is huge - more than twenty degrees. As a result of the rapid movement of the fiery arrow, great pressure is created in the atmosphere. And immediately behind it, the air is sharply compressed, returning to its original state. It makes an explosive sound. This is how thunder is born.

FAQ:

Why do we see lightning first and then hear the sound of thunder?

Because the speed of light is hundreds of millions of times greater than the speed of sound.

Why do we hear thunder?

Because sound waves meet various obstacles on their way (clouds, earth) and are reflected from them. This happens multiple times. Hence the rolling thunder sounds.

Sometimes we see a bliskavitsa, but we do not hear peals. Why?

The storm is too far away from us, more than twenty kilometers.

The processes themselves that occur during a thunderstorm have been studied quite well. Thunder - the sound of a powerful shock wave that appears as a result of a giant electrical discharge.

How does lightning occur?

Due to the friction between the smallest pieces of ice and drops of water vapor in the atmosphere, static electricity arises. Air does not conduct current, that is, it is a dielectric. With the accumulation of an electric charge at a certain moment, the field strength exceeds the critical value, and molecular bonds are destroyed. In this case, air, water vapor loses electrical insulating properties. This phenomenon is called dielectric breakdown. It can occur within a cloud, between two adjacent thunderclouds, or between a cloud and the ground.

As a result of the breakdown, a channel with high electrical conductivity is formed, filled with a giant spark discharge - this is lightning. This process releases a huge amount of energy. The flare length can reach 300 km or more. The air in the path of lightning heats up very quickly to 25,000 - 30,000°C. For comparison: the surface temperature of the Sun is 5726 °C.

Why does thunder occur?

Air heated by lightning expands. There is a powerful explosion. It generates a shock wave, accompanied by a very loud sound, not a single one, but with peals. This is the thunder. The more kinks the lightning has, the more thunder rolls, because at every turn there is a new explosion. Plus, the sound is reflected from neighboring clouds. Its maximum volume is 120 dB. Lightning linear and pearly cannot but be accompanied by a roar. It's just that sometimes a thunderstorm is so far away from where the flash is visible that the sound doesn't have time to reach it.

Interesting fact: in the ancient pagan religions there has always been a god of thunder. The roar during a thunderstorm was considered one of the manifestations of his anger. Now it is obvious that this sound should be taken only as a warning of an approaching danger. When it appears, you just need to estimate the distance to the thunderstorm and the degree of risk to people on the street.

How to determine the distance to lightning by the sound of thunder?

There is always some time between lightning and thunder. This is due to the fact that the speed of light is a million times the speed of sound. Therefore, a flash is first seen and only a few seconds later a roar is heard. If you detect this time, then you can roughly calculate the distance to the thunderstorm.

A thunderstorm is an atmospheric phenomenon, although not as rare as, for example, the northern lights or the fires of St. Elmo, but no less bright and impressive with its indomitable strength and primordial power. It is not for nothing that all romantic poets and prose writers love to describe it so much in their works, and professional revolutionaries see a thunderstorm as a symbol of popular unrest and serious social upheavals. From a scientific point of view, a thunderstorm is a heavy rain, accompanied by a squally increase in wind, lightning and thunder. But, if you probably already understand everything with a shower and wind, then it’s worth telling a little more about the other components of a thunderstorm.

What is thunder and lightning

Lightning is a powerful electrical discharge in the atmosphere, which can occur both between individual cumulus clouds and between rain clouds and the ground. Lightning is a kind of giant electric arc, the length of which is on average 2.5 - 3 kilometers. The incredible power of lightning is evidenced by the fact that the current in the discharge reaches tens of thousands of amperes, and the voltage reaches several million volts. Considering that such fantastic power is released within a few milliseconds, a lightning strike can be called a kind of electrical explosion of incredible force. It is clear that such a detonation inevitably causes the appearance of a shock wave, which then degenerates into a sound wave and attenuates as it propagates in the air. Thus it becomes obvious what thunder is.

Thunder is sound vibrations that occur in the atmosphere under the influence of a shock wave caused by a powerful electrical discharge. Considering that the air in the lightning channel instantly heats up to a temperature of about 20 thousand degrees, which exceeds the temperature of the surface of the Sun, such a discharge is inevitably accompanied by a deafening roar, like any other very powerful explosion. But after all, lightning lasts less than a second, and we hear thunder in long peals. Why does this happen, why does the thunder rumble? Atmospheric scientists have an answer to this question as well.

Why do we hear thunder

Thunder rolls occur in the atmosphere due to the fact that lightning, as we have already said, has a very long length and therefore the sound from its various parts does not reach our ear at the same time, although we see the light flash itself in its entirety at one moment. In addition, the occurrence of thunder peals is facilitated by the reflection of sound waves from clouds and the surface of the earth, as well as their refraction and scattering.