Why must lighting precede thunder?
471457
Because light travels faster than sound, so you see the lightning and then hear the thunder.
88827
You have a better chance of being struck by lightning.
999822
Thunder is just noise.  The electrical charge from the lightning is what does the damage.
1613
Lightning occurs in different forms.  Forecasters note the occurance of lightning as in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-air.  The most frequently occuring form is cloud-to-cloud lighting. Cloud-to-ground lighting occurs only about 20 percent of the time.
780379
spark,lightning,thunder,shower
909018
Actually Chameleon is right. Despite the fact that a lightning bolt lasts only fractions of a second, the average bolt transfers almost 500 megajoules of energy. Thats enough to light a 100-watt light bulb for about 2 months.\n\nAs for harnessing the power behind lighting, it can be done on a small scale. Look at a Vandegraaff generator which uses a belt and metal dome to create electric charge. As for the lightning that comes from storms. It is surprising to realize that it is quite unpredictable to human kind at this point, and the thought of being able to control lightning on that large of a scale is simply not feasible at this time.\n\n-Christopher
19940
Lightning nearly instantaneously superheats the air it passed through, which rapidly expands and then contracts again when it cools after the strike is over.  This creates a pressure wave which is the sound of thunder.
988117
there's a phenomena called Virga, that occurs frequently that could be the cause of this...Virga is rain that doesn't actually reach the surface, and its possible if the thunderstorm just doesn't have enough moisture in them..but..most likely..is that the thunderstorm isn't mature enough to start raining yet..and will most likely start a few miles down the road\n\nThunder occurs anytime theres lightning, and Cloud to cloud lightning is very frequent, and isn't affected by the amount of precipitation in the cloud (although more precip will mean a stronger storm).\n\nYou're most likely hearing the thunder caused by cloud to cloud lighting..and the storm is not yet strong enough to begin precipitation at the surface
1140417
There is a great article to read on this, from How Stuff Works.  Its under "How Lightning Works", but it talks about both lightning and thunder.  My students got a lot out of it.
28574
Lightning can happen when it snows.  The reason lighting happens is because the air in the clouds is negatively charged compared to the ground (making the clouds (-) and the gorund (+)).  The clouds usally get this way in dry conditions cause there is less moisture in the air to stop air molecules from rubbing up against one another and creating excess energy (a negative charge).  Well since the clouds are (-) it needs a way of getting rid of some energy so it can be neutral (n).  It does this by passing some energy in to the (+)  ground, which also want to be (n).  This passing of energy rips throught the (n) air in between the (-) clouds and the(+) ground and creats the effect of lightning.  Now the reason it usually doesn't happen when it snow is because of the moisture in the air being so high, but everyonce in a while the air become dry enough when it snow to produce lightning.
263764
1) Echoes are caused because the sound bounces off the surrounding landscape, just like ripples in a pond reflect back from the edge and start going back in the other direction.\n2) Sound comes later than the lightning because sound goes about 700 mph and light goes about 990,000 times faster than that.  So if the lightning is 1 mile away, the light gets to you in a fraction of a second and the thunder arrives after 5 seconds.
654472
Hi, chris........both are actually the result of same thing,....\n\nwhen two clouds come together, there is electric discharge,\n\na cloud can be seen as a large capacitor.......\n\nso sound and light are produced at the same time.......\n\nsince sound travels at 330 mph, and light at 300000 mps\n\nsound reaches us later coz its very slow compared to light, so we see light immediately but it takes time for the sound to reach our ears..........\n\nwhich is better??? one doesnt happen without the other....\n\nthe power generated in a lightning is 50000 volts......\n\nscientists are trying to store the power these days, \n\nthe same they cant do with sound, and lighting is obviously more dangerous......
420016
No. All such high towers are normally equipped with a an anti-lightening device, that grounds (or earths) any negative ions in the air around it, before it causes lightening. In a way, you can say it diffuses lightening, the same way a leaked live wire is earthed by the third pin on the socket before causing shock.
485683
Lightning is a powerful natural electrostatic discharge produced during a thunderstorm. This abrupt electric discharge is accompanied by the emission of visible light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The electric current passing through the discharge channels rapidly heats and expands the air into plasma, producing acoustic shock waves (thunder) in the atmosphere.\n\n\nThe saying "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is false. The Empire State Building is struck by lightning on average 100 times each year, and was once struck 15 times in 15 minutes.\n\n\nk.m.
785117
an Electrical storm involves lightning.\nAnd lightning can travel at the speed of light.\nBecause it mostly is light.\n\nThunder is slower and goes at the speed of sound so we hear the thunder later.
138725
You're right--lightning is just a spark. BUT it's a spark caused by massive voltage. Voltage can be defined as a difference in electrical potential between two points, with one point having a high negative electrical charge, the other a high positive electrical charge. This difference in electrical potential can become enormous when a thunderstorm gets going full force.\n\nRain and/or hail in the storm clouds are violently rubbed together by high-velocity winds, thus building up a net negative electrical charge (abundance of electrons). On the ground below the clouds no such action takes place, thus the ground has a net positive electrical charge (deficiency of electrons).\n\nEven though air is a very good insulator, the difference in electrical potential (voltage) between the storm clouds and ground can quickly reach as high as 500,000 volts, more than enough to produce a lightning "spark."
404054
Yes. Anywhere that there is lightning there is a possibillity for red lighting. Red lightning is caused by, lighting traveling from cloud to cloud. The clouds then distort the color.