Re: Lightning without thunder?

Yokel wrote:
Because of the shock wave caused by sudden heating in the lightning channel,
I do not think there is any kind of "normal" lightning (I am discounting
phenomena such as "ball" lighning and also the high-level "sprites" which
pass through a very rarefied atmosphere) which does not produce thunder,
even if refraction effects such as mentioned by another poster greatly
attenuate the sound.

The refractive effect that results in no path from lightning to you is pretty
attenuative, ie. no sound at all, except in exponential tails of bessel functions
from a wave solution across the caustic surface.

A stratified lower atmosphere makes it a lot more likely. I assume it's hotter
than othersise, to avoid an unstable lapse rate where it meets air above; which
makes sound travel faster. All the sound that comes down at a slant turns right
back up again as it meets the interface, and doesn't reach you at all.

--
Ron Hardin
rhhardin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.
.

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