Distance of lightning

Since the speed of light is high and the speed of sound is much lower, the distance to a flash may be estimated from the time between lightning and thunder. This calculation considers the speed of sound only, the time needed by the light is neglected.

Usage: Type the time between lightning and thunder in seconds into the corresponding field. After a mouseclick on any free space of the window or on the "calculate" button you may read the result. Move the mouse over a unit to read its full name.
Vice versa you may type a distance into the field with the corresponding unit. After a mouseclick it is calculated what time the sound would need for this distance.
For the speed of sound a value corresponding to air at 20 °C is preset already. If you want to do the calculation with another value, you may change it accordingly. The speed of sound may be given and displayed in several units.
For another calculation you just have to type this into the corresponding field. Or you click on the "reset" button before.

Example: During a thunderstorm you hear the thunder 5 seconds after the lightning. Type "5" into the field for the time between lightning and thunder. After a mouseclick on any free space of the window or on the "calculate" button you can read that the distance to the lightning was about 1.7 km.

Remarks:
- Large and small numbers are written exponentially. As example 2.3e5 = 2.3⋅10⁵ = 230000 or 4.5e-5 = 4.5⋅10^-5 = 0.000045.
- There is no warranty for the conversion. Cactus2000 is not responsible for damage of any kind caused by wrong results.
- Please send an email if you have suggestions or if you would like to see more conversions to be included.

- A collection of all Cactus2000-converters running offline may be ordered for a price of € 15.-. A test version is available for download for free.

© Bernd Krüger, 07.09.2008