However, the traditional newspaper (if there really is such an animal) is threatened by shrinking readership. Television is focused on entertainment, even when it dresses it up as news.. Radio is threatened by satellites. All are confronted with the frictionless distribution enabled by the Internet, the disruptive effects of digital information. None have figured out a business model that pays for content at today's rates.
Thunder is a compression wave and will dissipate with time and distance. Under excellent conditions, thunder can be heard about 12 miles away from the lightning strike. However most of the time conditions arenât this good and we usually canât hear thunder any more than about 5 miles away.
Now imagine a lightning bolt. They can be several miles long, no matter if it is a cloud to cloud or cloud to ground discharge. Lets say the nearest part of the bolt is one mile away. Sound travels about a mile in 5 seconds, thus you will hear the first part - the clap of the lightning - five seconds after the flash. If the farthest part of the bolt is three miles away, it will take 15 seconds to hear that part of the bolt.