Why do we see lightning before thunder?
Light vs. Sound Race
Why do we see lightning before thunder?
You're standing at your window watching a storm roll in. The sky flashes bright white — and then, a few seconds later, BOOM. The thunder arrives late to its own party. Why does light always beat sound to your ears?
The answer lives in how fast things travel. Light is the speed demon of the universe — it moves at about 300,000 kilometers per second. That's so fast it could circle the Earth seven and a half times in one second. Sound? Sound is more like a jogger. It moves through air at only about 340 meters per second.
