Why do you see lightning before hearing thunder?

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When lightning strikes during a storm, you see the flash of light before you hear the accompanying thunder because **light travels much faster than sound**. Here's a breakdown of why this happens:

1. **Speed of Light vs. Sound:**
   - **Light** travels at an astonishing speed of approximately **299,792 kilometers per second (about 186,282 miles per second)** in a vacuum. Even through the Earth's atmosphere, light travels nearly as fast.
   - **Sound**, on the other hand, travels at about **343 meters per second (approximately 1,125 feet per second)** in air at sea level and at room temperature.

2. **Immediate Visibility:**
   - When lightning occurs, the **light from the flash** reaches your eyes almost **instantaneously**, no matter how far away the lightning strike is (within practical distances on Earth).

3. **Delayed Sound:**
   - The **sound of thunder** takes more time to travel from the lightning strike to your ears. The farther away the lightning is, the longer you will wait to hear the thunder after seeing the lightning.

4. **Estimating Distance:**
   - You can estimate how far away a lightning strike is by counting the seconds between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder. A common rule of thumb is:
     - **Every 5 seconds** between the flash and the thunder corresponds to roughly **1 mile** (or every **3 seconds** corresponds to about **1 kilometer**).

**Example:**
If you see a lightning flash and then hear thunder 10 seconds later, the lightning strike occurred approximately 2 miles (or about 3.3 kilometers) away.

This difference in the speed of light and sound is why lightning is seen before thunder is heard during a storm.
You see lightning before hearing thunder because light travels much faster than sound. When lightning strikes, the light reaches your eyes almost instantly, while the sound of thunder takes time to travel to your ears. The faster speed of light makes lightning appear before thunder is heard.

Why do you see lightning before hearing thunder?

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