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.

Tom Preston Werner at Startup School 2012

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Let's think about Lightning - Smarter Every Day 15

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