What Speed Does Lightning Travel

Lightning is the flash of light that occurs when charge separation occurs.

What speed does lightning travel. However the light you see from the lightning obviously travels at the speed of light which is roughly 670 million mph or 186000 miles per second. Does lightning travel at the speed of light. So the light from a flash of lightning travels at the speed of light in air which is slightly less than the speed of light in a vacuum eg.

There is a pause between steps of about 50 microseconds. Like other forms of light the light emitted from the lightning travels near the speed of light. There is data that a lightning storm can be seen at over 160 km 100 mi whereas the thunder travels about 32 km 20 mi.

How Fast Does Lightning Travel. Lightning travels at around 220000 miles per hour when traveling downwards from a cloud and then reaches a speed of 220000000 miles per hour when moving skyward on its return stroke. A typical trip duration is 20 milliseconds.

The stepped leader generally moves at about 75 miles per second 120 kms towards the ground. Thunder is the vibration that is emitted by the rapid expansion and contraction of air. The speed of sound in air at sea level moves about 1 mile every 5 seconds.

According to the book Its Raining Frogs and Fishesby Jerry Dennis lightning bolts travel at speeds up to 93000 miles per second. Anecdotally there are many examples of people saying the storm was directly. Its can depend on air conditions but the typical lightning bolt moves at 224000 mph -- or about 3700 miles per second.

Lightning is the result of a huge electric potential or voltage coupled with quite a lot of current to produce what our eyes. Light travels at 186000 miles per second in a vacuum. The answer involves the speed at which sound and light travel.