A single bolt of lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the Sun — but only for a few millionths of a second, and it is that violent spike of heat, not the electricity itself, that cracks the air into the thunder you hear

A single bolt of lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the Sun — but only for a few millionths of a second, and it is that violent spike of heat, not the electricity itself, that cracks the air into the thunder you hear

The flash and the sound of a thunderstorm are two outputs of the same event. Electrical current creates a luminous plasma channel. The channel heats the surrounding air so abruptly that the air cannot expand gently, and the resulting pressure pulse begins as a shock wave. That sequence supports the headline’s central claim, but the language needs precision. Electricity supplies the energy. Rapid heating and expansion are the immediate physical s…