Why do we see lightning before thunder?
That’s because the speed of light is way greater than the speed of sound.
The speed of light is about 3×1083×108 meters per second while the speed of sound in air is 343343 meters per second on average.
That means, if you circled the earth at the speed of light, it would take you about 0.1340.134 seconds to do so, while if you circled the earth at the speed of sound, it would take you about 3232 hours!
You can actually determine how far away from you the lightning struck. After you see a lightning flash, count the number of seconds until you hear thunder. Sound waves travel a distance of one kilometer (or 0.620.62 miles) in three seconds. So, for every three seconds that you count, the lightning is one kilometer away.
