Thunder how does it work

Ball lightning is usually spherical in shape and about one foot in diameter. Hissing noises originate from such balls and they sometimes make a loud noise when they explode. What is St. Elmo's Fire? Elmo's Fire appears as a blue or greenish glow above pointed objects on the ground.

It is created when tiny positively charged sparks reach up in response to negatively charges in the air or clouds above the ground. If a thunderstorm is nearby, St. Elmo's Fire might be seen right before a lightning strike. What is anvil lightning? Anvil lightning is a type of lightning referred to as "the bolt from the blue" because it often appears suddenly from a seemingly cloudless sky.

A bolt at the top of a thunderstorm arcs away from the main cloud and strikes the ground where the skies above often appear clear. Can you tell how far away a storm is? Yes, you can use thunder to tell how far away a storm is.

Next time you see a storm, count the number of seconds between when you see the lightning and hear the thunder. Take the number of seconds and divide by 5 and that will tell you how far away the storm is in miles. For example: If you counted 10 seconds between the lightning and the thunder, the lightning is 2 miles away! A leader reaches from the cloud to the ground below, looking for positive charges.

This return stroke releases tremendous energy, bright light and thunder. They are created when leaders are created and reach from the ground to the sky looking for a leader to connect with.

Know the Facts A lightning flash is no more than one inch wide. What we see as a flash of lightning may actually be four different strokes in exactly the same place, one right after another. That's why lightning appears to flicker. Click Here to see if there are any active warnings in your area. Look for darkening skies, flashes of lightning, or increasing winds. If you hear the sound of thunder, go to a safe place immediately. The best place to go is a sturdy building or a car, but make sure the windows in the car are shut.

Avoid sheds, picnic areas, baseball dugouts and bleachers. If there is no shelter around you, stay away from trees. Crouch down in the open area, keeping twice as far away from a tree as far as it is tall. Put your feet together and place your hands over your ears to minimize hearing damage from thunder.

Swimming, wading, snorkeling and scuba diving are not safe. Stay away from clotheslines, fences, and drop your backpacks because they often have metal on them.

Lightning Activities Lightning Experiment: Here is a great experiment that allows kids to make lightning in their mouth. It's a great way for them to understand how lightning works. Lightning Experiment: Here is a great experiment that allows the kids to make lightning. All you need is a balloon and a light bulb! Lightning Experiment: Here is another great experiment that allows the kids to make lightning. This teaches kids about the positive and negative charges and where they come from.

Static Electricity Experiment: Here is an experiment that allows the kids to learn about static electricity by sticking a balloon to a wall. Static Electricity Experiment: Here is another static electricity experiment that bends water. Static Electricity Experiment: Here is yet another static electricity experiment with using a balloon and your hair.

Thunder Experiment: This experiment allows kids to make thunder, in a way that allows them to understand how it is made by lightning. Thunderstorm Experiment: Here is a great way to teach kids how to track a thunderstorm. As you continue to listen, you'll hear the sound created from the portions of the channel farther and farther away. Typically, a sharp crack or click will indicate that the lightning channel passed nearby. If the thunder sounds more like a rumble, the lightning was at least several miles away.

The loud boom that you sometimes hear is created by the main lightning channel as it reaches the ground. Since you see lightning immediately and it takes the sound of thunder about 5 seconds to travel a mile, you can calculate the distance between you and the lightning. Keep in mind that you should be in a safe place while counting. Remember, if you can hear thunder, chances are that you're within striking distance of the storm. But above that, it stretches up tall into the sky. Clouds are made of tiny water droplets.

Then the ice crystals move to the top of the cloud and the water droplets stay near the bottom of the cloud. When they move past each other and rub against each other, they make static electricity. You can make static electricity by rubbing a balloon against your hair and then the static electricity makes your hair stand up.

Sometimes, if you have socks on and you rub your feet on a carpet, then it makes a tiny shock when you touch somebody else. That is also static electricity. The static electricity in the cloud makes the ice crystals positively charged and the water droplets negatively charged. If you have ever played with magnets, you will know that the positive side of a magnet is attracted to the negative side of another magnet — but it pushes away the positive side of another magnet.

Opposites attract each other: those with the same charge that is, positive or negative push each other away. The same thing happens with the negatively charged water droplets near the bottom of the thunder cloud. All the negative bits that collect near the bottom of the cloud are called electrons.

Positive bits known as particles start to collect under the thunder cloud because they are attracted by the electrons near the bottom of the cloud. The attraction of positive and negative bits is strong, so the electrons in the cloud start to make jagged fingers reaching down to the earth.