Thunder

Here is the simple explaination for Thunder... well that's just the electric current passing through the discharge channels rapidly heats and expands the air into plasma, producing acoustic shock waves (thunder) in the atmosphere.

Historical Understanding of Thunder...
The cause of thunder has been the subject of centuries of speculation and scientific enquiry. The first recorded theory is attributed to Aristotle in the third century BC, and an early speculation was that it was caused by the collision of clouds. Subsequently numerous other theories have been proposed. By the mid-19th century, the accepted theory was that lightning produced a vacuum along its path, and that thunder was caused by the subsequent motion of air rushing to fill the vacuum. Later in the 19th century it was believed that thunder was caused by an explosion of steam when water along the lightning channel was heated. Another theory was that gaseous materials were created by lightning and then exploded. In the 20th century a consensus evolved that thunder must begin with a shockwave in the air due to the sudden thermal expansion of the plasma in the lightning channel.

Video Clip: This video clip was taken just outside of my apartment at about 9:15am this morning. I've heard the close crackling of thunder before, but this was just a BLAST! It was honestly the loudest thunder I've ever heard! As you watch the video clip you'll notice that at about 7 seconds into the video you'll hear one thunder blast which had me shaking in my boots alittle. The second thunder blast happens at about the 49 seconds, and although you don't see it, if that camera were faced at me you would have seen me looking quite pale and crouched down. It's sort of funny now looking back, because during this thunder blast I could sense my primitive brain saying, "Get the f__ out of there!" If you can catch the lightning flash reflecting off the building, and compare that with the thunder blast, you'll realize just how close the lightning must have been.

*Make sure your volume is turned up high enough to get the feeling of it.