Thunder
Summer is the time for thunder storms. Many kids are afraid of thunder storms, but if they understand what causes them, they might not be as afraid. In my past articles I have described positive and negative charges. In the articles about magnetism, chemistry and electricity, these charges are described in great detail. To fully understand how these charges work you might want to review those articles before proceeding with this study.
Thunder
Unlike it’s pal lightening, thunder is harmless. It seems that most kids are afraid of the loud noise that thunder makes, but thunder can’t hurt you. In my last article I covered lightening and the dangers of being outside during a storm. One thing I did not mention in the last article is that lightening does occasionally occur even when there is no storm. Sometimes it rains and there is not thunder or lightening, but you never know when thunder and lightening can occur. For this reason, never, never swim during a rain shower or seek shelter under a tree.
Whew! Maybe I should re-title this topic to how to scare kids. Just assure the kids that they are safe as long as they remain indoors.
Air is made of tiny molecules. These molecules include carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen and more. Once again I will remind you to take a look at the chemistry articles which describe molecules in great detail. When lightening flashes it gives off a lot of heat. The air molecules become heated from the flashes of lightening, just as food gets warm when we place it in a hot oven. Hot molecules vibrate and move around. These hot air molecules will begin to move around so much that they will bounce off of each other. These hot bouncing molecules end up bouncing into cool air molecules that were not close enough to the lightening to get warmed up. Once the hot molecules bounce into the cold molecules it causes a big wave of air. As the molecules collide it makes a great noise. This noise is thunder. The wave of air pushes along the earth as wind.
Let’s review what we have learned. When the positively charged raindrops meet negatively charged raindrops it causes a big spark that we see as lightening. Lightening is dangerous if you are outside or inside on the phone.
After the lightening occurs, the air surrounding the flash heats up. When the hot air molecules bounce into cold air molecules it makes a loud noise, which we hear as thunder. These hot and cold molecules create an air wave which rushes along the earth as wind.
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