how is a lightning formed and what is really a thunder, why doesnt lightning strike at the same place twice???
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.
1164752
Here's a website that will explain it for you....http://science.howstuffworks.com/lightning5.htm
400449
Thunder is the explosive sound produced by an ordinary lightning discharge. The lightning bolt heats the air around it so quickly (within a few millionths of a second) and to such a high temperature (about 10,000° C, or about 18,000° F) that the air molecules are pushed apart with great force, much like in an explosion. A wave of compressed air (a sound wave) moves out from the lightning bolt.
616034
No. The enormous amount of heat produced by lightning expands air suddenly, causing the sound we refer to as thunder. The reason we don't always hear thunder (right away) is because light travels faster than sound. We don't always hear that sound because it might be very far away, but we still see the light.
93456
Some clouds contain +ve charge & some contain -ve. When both clouds come together in contact, they produce electricity which is the lightning.......
1083933
That kind of lightning are usually called  cloud to clud lightning, and  occurs  at very high altitudes between clouds at different altitudes (1,000 ft,).  there's no thunder because  the charges are  not  making ground like when they touch  earth.
622228
The initial noise comes from the superheated air surrounding a bolt of lightning moving at high speeds, creating a fairly high pitched CRACK.  The "rolling" thunder sound is caused by that superheated air "pushing" (via air pressure in case you were wondering) the air around it.  Kinda cool to think that all we are hearing is friction of air molecules at different speeds, huh?
15170
Lightning creates thunder, by rapidly heating the surrounding air. The heated air expands explosively and compresses the air immediately around the heated area.
619415
From a distance, lightning will come before the thunder.  But at the point of the bolt, they occur at the same time.\n\nFrom the source below:\n"Actually, they do occur at the same time. The time difference that you sense is due to the way sound and light travel. Light travels extremely fast (300,000,000 m/s). In fact, it is faster than anything else. Sound travels at a measly 343 m/s through air. Therefore we can see light in an instant, but it takes a while to hear thunder."
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.
804373
Lighting does indeed strike multiple times in the same place. The Empire State Building in New York City is an obvious example. It is covered with lighting rods to channel lightning strikes safely.\n\nThis old wives tale probably got started because lighting often destroys what it hits. If what previously served as a "lightning rod" has been destroyed, then the lightning probably won't strike there again.
318560
For this we have to check the basics of Lightning or a spark. \nLightning is caused due to the difference of static charge between two layers of energy. Our eco-system is composed of layaers of energy always in motion. Air breaks down at 10,000 volts per inch, considering the humidity in the atmosphere. When the charge on the clouds, produced due to friction, exceeds the sparking voltage, a lightning is produced. When a spark is produced, it is like a mad blind dog, searching the easiest path fast. The spark may be caused between two clouds, between the cloud and the Earth, or the cloud or any object in the space. Most of the lightnings are lost in space as the volts per inch for a spark decreases with pressure, being the minimum for free space(Vacuum). Some are also lost amongst the clouds.\nNow let us see what happens to a spark between a cloud and the earth. It is a must for a spark to terminate at the ground, the earth being neutral and a huge resource of electrons. Nothing else has the capacity to provide such magnitude of electrons. Now, in its path, the spark tries to travel the path with least resistance. It is also worth noting that a spark is also associated with production of heat.\nEven though wood is a bad conductor, live green trees with water contents, and rising high in the air were good target for the lightnings. They would burn it and split it while passing through. Now it has better baits - the towers and high rising buildings. A high rise produces a area of lightning shadow around its base. The higher the building, the bigger the area. All the lightnings for that area is absorbed by that building. It is likely that the building will have lightning catchers, which passes them directly to the Earth without letting it do much damage.\nIn cities, it is almost impossible of being thunderstruck.\n\nLet us check the case of rural areas.\nThe danger is when a lightning is produced in wide open space. It has a peculiar tendency to bend. Sometimes, it is amazingly seen to run parallel to the ground. This is caused due to a dry crust or upper coating of the Earth. It acts as an insulator. The lightning bends and tries to find the nearest path to enter the Earth. This might cause hazards. People working in fields; sometimes animals are killed. So, here is the maximum chance of being thunderstruck.\nThe damages caused by a spark varies with the amount of charge still present and the heat already produced. A spark continuously loses its charge content into the surrounding system. Also, it continuously gets warmer as it travels, depending on the system temperature. When, a spark(charge) passes through you, the electrons tend to disrupt your nervous system traffic and the heat burns your tissue. For household voltages, which is 110 volts in countries like USA and 230 volts in countries like India, we feel jolts and cramps in our muscles, which either results in instantaneous withdrawal of the contact part or inability in doing so. The later is surely serious. Now you can compare the effects of a lightning. You will be lucky if the lightning loses most of its charge.\n\nBEST OF YOUR LUCK!
429745
The flash of a lightning strike and resulting thunder occur at roughly the same time. But light travels at 186,000 miles in a second, almost a million times the speed of sound. Sound travels at the slower speed of one-fifth of a mile in the same time. So the flash of lightning is seen before thunder is heard. By counting the seconds between the flash and the thunder and dividing by 5, you can estimate your distance from the strike
497622
It doesn't just happen all of a sudden, as OBIWAUGH pointed out, the movement of air caused by the storm causes the clouds to acquire a polarized electrical charge that by nature has to release its energy.\nThat energy is the lightning bolt reaching out to an oppositely charged object to balance the energy.
301729
Both are correct.\n\nDuring a lightning strike, leaders travel up from the ground or object that is about to be struck. At the same time a strike comes from the clouds downward.\n\nWherever the leader is the tallest, the two will meet.\n\nThere are several types of lightning...\nCloud to ground\nGround to cloud\ncloud to cloud\n\nall are correct
335281
depending on the charges involved lightning can either strike from the ground to the clouds, or the clouds to the ground, or from cloud to cloud. What you were almost struck by would have been ground to cloud lightning. Not sure which is most common (likely cloud to cloud) but all three of these can occur.
503525
Lightning is formed by the convective processes that occur in a thunderstorm.  You'll have the warm, moist suface layer of air with the cold, dry layer of air aloft.  The natural balance of the atmosphere makes the warm air want to rise.  This gives strong updrafts of air can help create charge differences (warm humid surface air rises and cools, condenses into waterdroplets which have different charge the ice crystals in the upper atmosphere) which can cause lightning.\n\nIn a snowstorm (or winter in general) the surface layer is cold with low dewpoints (dry), so you generally won't find these updrafts and convection found in summer thunderstorms to create lightning.\n\nHowever sometimes the conditions can bring enough warmer air, moisture and instability to cause lightning and thunder.  Check out the link provided for more in depth details.\n\nThe thunder from thundersnow is not heard at very large distances, which makes it seem even rarer.  Snow absorbs a lot of the sound, so it will only be heard about a mile or two away.