Image: Wikimedia Commons

thunder

Sound caused by a lightning strike

Entitytype of meteorological phenomenonQ83301

Instance of: type of meteorological phenomenon
Subclass of: natural phenomenon
, natural sound
, meteorological phenomenon
Part of: thunderstorm

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning produces rapid expansion of the air in the path of a lightning bolt. In turn, this expansion of air creates a sonic shock wave, often referred to as a "thunderclap" or "peal of thunder". The scientific study of thunder is known as brontology and the irrational fear (phobia) of thunder is called brontophobia.

Overview

All data

39 statements · 23% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Permanent duplicated item: Q22828362
Cause: lightning
Q25456692
Different from: Trueno
Tunet Valley

On other databases

28 identifiers linking thunder across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

23%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 10, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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Cite this page

AIDB. (2026). thunder (Q83301). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/thunder-Q83301