the.com/thunderclap
The universe's way of saying 'that light you just saw? here's the receipt.'
means A sudden, sharp crash of thunder — the loud bang that bursts out right after a flash of lightning.
from A straightforward compound, joining 'thunder' (from an old Germanic root tied to the thunder-god Thor, who was literally the personification of the sound) with 'clap' — which has meant a sudden sharp noise, like the clap of hands, since early English. Put them together and you get exactly what it describes: one quick, violent clap of sound. The word has stayed this plain and literal for centuries, which is rare — most weather words drift, but this one just kept hitting the same note.
- actual cause
- air explosively expanding from lightning's heat
- temperature spike
- hotter than the sun's surface, briefly
- delay trick
- count seconds after flash to gauge distance
- sound speed
- lags light, so boom always arrives late