Why does thunder boom?
Sky's Hot Complaint
Why does thunder boom?
You've heard it a thousand times: the sky cracks open with a BOOM that rattles windows and makes dogs hide under beds. But thunder isn't the sky breaking apart. It's something way cooler — an explosion happening in thin air, triggered by a bolt of lightning that's hotter than the surface of the sun.
Here's the thing about lightning: it's not just bright. It's INSANELY hot. When a lightning bolt rips through the air, it heats the air around it to about 30,000 degrees Celsius in less than a millionth of a second. That's five times hotter than the sun's surface, all crammed into a channel thinner than your thumb.
