What is the delay between seeing lightning and hearing thunder?

AI Thread Summary
The delay between seeing lightning and hearing thunder is primarily determined by the speed of sound, which is approximately 340 m/s at 15°C. For a lightning strike 1 km away, the calculated delay is about 2.94 seconds. The speed of light is significantly faster at 2.99 x 10^8 m/s, resulting in a negligible delay of approximately 0.000033 seconds. Therefore, the impact of light delay is minimal compared to the sound delay, as sound turbulence and reflections can affect the perceived timing more than the light delay. The discussion concludes that considering the light time delay in this context is largely unnecessary.
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Homework Statement



Lighting strikes the ground 1.00 km form an observation point. Calculate the delay between seeing the flash and hearing the thunder. (Temperature @ 15⁰C)(Speed of light = 2.99 x10⁸ m/s)

Homework Equations



v=331+(0.6)T

The Attempt at a Solution



Speed of the sounds is = 340 m/s 1,000/340 = 2.94 sec

Speed of the light is 2.99 x 10^8 m/s (1,000) \div (2.99 x10^8) = 3.3 x 10^-5


2.94 - 0.000033 = 2.939967 seconds
 
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Sure, but basically it's silly to even consider the light time delay because the scale is so small that sound turbulence/reflections will perturb the sound much more than the 3*10^-5 light time delay.
 

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