Thunderstorms are one of the less enjoyable parts of summer in the UK – often after a prolonged spell of gorgeous sunny weather they come to wreak havoc across the country – spoiling barbeques, felling trees and damaging homes, making the need for people such as Gloucester TV aerials repair services very high indeed! But what actually happens during a thunderstorm?
The lovely warm air that allows so many of us to enjoy days at the beach, and picnics in the woods rubs up against cold air – when this happens, the friction creates a lot of energy which in turn produces electricity.
We then see a huge flash of lightning and the boom of the thunderclap – the sound of the thunder is caused by the lightning heating up the air so quickly, that it expands, and creates the huge bang that we all know.
The lightning is charged with a huge 20,000 amps of electricity on average, so you definitely do not want to be hit by it! When a storm is forecast it is best to stay indoors, or in your car with he windows up if you are out and about.
It is handy being able to judge how far away a storm is from you – because light travels faster than sound, we are able to work it out for ourselves by counting the time between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder. Approximately every five seconds between the two counts as a mile – if the time between the two increases it is moving away, if it decreases it is coming closer.
