Xref: utzoo comp.dcom.modems:3920 sci.physics:8299
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!pur-ee!pur-phy!piner
From: piner@pur-phy (Richard Piner)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems,sci.physics
Subject: Re: TrailBlazer Plus vs. lightning
Message-ID: <2289@pur-phy>
Date: 28 May 89 08:33:39 GMT
References: <3784@phri.UUCP>
Reply-To: piner@newton.physics.purdue.edu.UUCP (Richard Piner)
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., W. Lafayette, IN
Lines: 17

In article <3784@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>
>	My physics question about all this is, what was the click I heard?
>I thought it was just the phone line relay, but my wife, in the next room,
>claims to have heard it too (the relay is *far* too soft for that).  Does
>up-close lightning make a >click< just before the *BA-ROOOM*?
>-- 

  I've been lucky (???) enough to see/hear lightning real close.
I just happened to be looking out the window when a bolt hit within
ten feet or so. At that range lightning bolts have a diameter and
they look transparent. I could see through it. Anyway, to answer your
question, I think what you heard is the sound of the discharge.
Electric sparks make a "snap" sound. This is true of lightning.
Most people who have heard that sound from a lightning bolt don't
live to tell the tale.
					Richard Piner