DURING A THUNDER STORM AND LIGHTNING STORM, TO ESTIMATE HOW FAR AWAY THE STORM IS, COUNT THE NUMBER OS SECONDS BETWEEN THE TIME YOU SEELIGHTINING AND HEAR THUNDER. DIVIDE THAT NUMBER BY 5 TO FIND THE DISTANCE IN MILES TO THE STORM. WRITE A SENTENCE TO DESCRIBE THE PATTERN THAT THE FORMULA IS BASED ON. SET UP A TABLE TO SHOW THE TIME BETWEEN A LIGHTINGFLASH AND A THUNDERCLAP IF THE STORM IS 10,20,30,AND 40 MILES AWAY.
t = number of seconds
d = distance
then
d = t/5
sound travels about (1/5) mile per second
and
distance = speed * time
so the distance (d) is speed of sound (1/5) times the time (t) for sound to travel from lightning bolt to you.
If sound travels 1129 feet per second through the air, then what would an equation be that represents how many feet sound can travel in 2 seconds?
The formula to estimate the distance to a storm during a thunderstorm and lightning storm is based on the pattern that sound travels at a constant speed through the air, but light travels much faster. This means that when you see lightning, it takes a certain amount of time for the sound of thunder to reach your ears, depending on the distance of the storm.
To set up a table showing the time between a lightning flash and a thunderclap for different distances, we can use the formula:
Distance (in miles) = (Time between lightning flash and thunderclap) / 5
Here's a table showing the time for different distances:
Distance (in miles) | Time between lightning flash and thunderclap (in seconds)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 | 2
20 | 4
30 | 6
40 | 8