electricity - What makes the speed of lightning different to the …
网页2021年12月4日 · This slows the propagation of electricity in a wire. In copper, electricity travels at about $1/3$ the speed of light. Lightning advances much slower than that. If a bolt of lightning advances into newly ionized channel of air, charges build up at the end of the channel. Before the lightning can advance further, more air must be ionized.
How fast does lightning travel? - Answers
网页2024年5月20日 · Depending on air conditions, the typical lightning bolt moves at 224,000 mph -- or about 3,700 miles per second. However, the light you see from the lightning obviously travels at the speed of ...
visible light - Why and how fast does lightning propagate?
网页2019年2月7日 · 1. While looking at this youtube video of lightning in 1000 fps I was somewhat surprised that such a frame rate is enough to capture the propagation of lightning. I have no clue about photography or physics, but the naive questions I want to ask are: How "quickly" does lightning propagate, and what are the main contributing factors to the ...
Without seeing the lightning, can you tell how far away it struck by ...
网页2014年3月21日 · The sound speed in air is a relatively constant $343\tfrac{m}{s}=0.21\tfrac{mi}{s}$. Even if the dispersion were relatively high, you would need to know something about the way the thunder sounded when it started.
Speed of light vs speed of electricity - Physics Stack Exchange
网页2017年9月24日 · 55. The speed of electricity is conceptually the speed of the electromagnetic signal in the wire, which is somewhat similar to the concept of the speed of light in a transparent medium. So it is normally lower, but not too much lower than the speed of light in the vacuum. The speed also depends on the cable construction.
How is the speed of electricity determined? - Physics Stack Exchange
网页2017年4月27日 · The "speed of a lightning strike" is the speed that the electric field propagates in air. A potential difference is established between the clouds and the ground, and this potential difference increases dramatically. Paths of ionized air are created between the clouds and the ground. When these paths make a connection between the clouds …
Why does lightning cause sound? - Physics Stack Exchange
网页2022年1月27日 · The sound barrier theory is complete nuts. However, lightning does not travel at the speed of light. In fact, when the voltage between the cloud and the Earth reaches a critical level, many small low-intensity lightning bolts propagate more or less randomly downwards, ionizing the air along the way, forming a channel of conductive …
Relativity of Simultaneity - Why doesn't the train/lightning …
网页2023年9月7日 · My basic, high-level understanding of special relativity is that space/time must be malleable in order to preserve the constant speed of light regardless of reference frame. Working from that understanding, the train & platform example where a flash of light originates from the center of the train makes sense to me.
speed of light - Can you deduce how far lightning struck from you ...
网页2023年7月7日 · $\begingroup$ Complimentary to all the aforementioned reasons, the fact that the phenomenon is well into the non-linear acoustics regime introduces some dispersion (frequency-dependent speed of sound), at least for the first moments (close to the lightning) which could (most probably to a lesser extent though) to the spreading of the thunder. …
Does lightning have a thickness? - Physics Stack Exchange
网页2015年4月17日 · 1 Answer. The primary "bolt" of lightning carrying the most current is only a few centimeters across. However, the entire "tube" that is carrying a significant current can be upwards of 10 meters across. If the lightning hits the ground, the current spreads out across the surface in all directions (not necessarily uniformly) increasing the ...