Let's think about Lightning - Smarter Every Day 15

2m read

·Nov 3, 2024

[Music] [Rainfall and thunder] Hey, it's me, Destin.

So I'm gonna explain why thunder sounds the way it does. And uh, we're in the middle of a thunderstorm here, obviously, so I'm going to try to make this quick.

So basically, if you're standing on the ground here, and let's say there's lightning that happens way up in the sky, really far away from you. So what happens is, as soon as it breaks the sound barrier, that sound wave starts traveling towards your body. But also, the speed of the electricity of the lightning bolt is a lot faster than sound, so that... Oh wow, that's going to be a big one. At least I could see it.

So also, that lightning bolt... [Thunder] outruns the sound. So the sound is simultaneously initiated from all points along the lightning bolt, at the same time. So what happens is you get some cracks that happen before other cracks and you get this low rumble. So you might get... [Thunder] a really low rumble, like that.

So what happens is, if the lightning bolt is really really really far away from you, then all the sound might make it to you at the same time. But sometimes you get this long drawn out thunder rumble, and that's because the sound is coming to you at different points from along the bolt. It has to do with the distance of the lightning bolt, your position and the sound.

So there you go. I know that's not in-depth at all, but I'm in the middle of a thunderstorm. But I hope you're smarter every day and you at least get to think about it. Have a good one. [Thunder]

[Music] ...Good at this, so... I'll show you.

Watch his head stay totally stationary as I move his body. I can move his body in pretty much any direction. Captioning in different languages welcome. Please contact Destin if you can help.

Behind the Scenes of TEKOI

Harvesting Barnacles in Portugal | Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted

View All

Tradition in the Old West: How Past and Present Co-Exist in Fort Worth | National Geographic

I’m just intensely curious about people and social behavior. Everything that I’m doing is just my way of satisfying that curiosity. My work as a photographer is deeply rooted in culture. I’m really excited to travel to Fort Worth to explore all the old We…

Multiplying by tens word problem | Math | 3rd grade | Khan Academy

A volunteer group is planting trees at five different parks. They planted 90 trees at each park. How many trees did the group plant in all? So here’s what we know: we know that this group went to five different parks, very kind of them, and planted 90 tr…

Warren Buffett Just Sold $100 Billion Worth of Stock.

Uh, this question is from Johan Halen, who writes, “You’re sitting on $168 billion of cash, which you told us today is now more than $182 billion.” His questions are: one, what is Buffett waiting for? And two, why not at least deploy some of it? Well, I …

Crypto Investors - Linda Xie and Avichal Garg

Let’s just start with quick intro. So, Linda, after you. Hi, I’m Linda. I’m co-founder of a crypto hedge fund called Scalar Capital. We focus on long-term investing in this space with a strong emphasis on privacy coins. Before that, I was a product mana…

Rate problems

[Instructor] So we’re told that Lynnette can wash 95 cars in five days. How many cars can Lynnette wash in 11 days? So like always, pause this video and see if you can figure this out. The way that I would like to tackle it is given the information they…

Bird Taking Off at 20,000 fps (213 milliseconds) - Smarter Every Day 197

Hey, it’s me, Destin. Sorry for the vertical video there. I was recording for the Instagram story. So I caught this bird with my hand, and I got to thinking about it. It’s kind of a shame to have a bird and let it go and not film it in slow motion. So, th…

Let's think about Lightning - Smarter Every Day 15

More Articles