Prelims 2013 · archive
EasyDuring a thunderstorm, the thunder in the skies is produced by the:
- 1.Meeting of cumulonimbus clouds in the sky.
- 2.Lightning that separates the nimbus clouds.
- 3.Violent upward movement of air and water particles.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) None of the above
Thunder is the sound produced by lightning. A lightning stroke heats the air along its channel to an extremely high temperature almost instantly. The air expands explosively, creating a shock wave that turns into the booming sound we hear. None of the three statements describes this process, so the answer is (d).
- ✗ 1. Clouds do not 'meet' to make thunder. The sound comes from air along a lightning channel expanding suddenly, not from cumulonimbus clouds colliding.
- ✗ 2. Lightning is an electrical discharge; it does not 'separate' clouds. Thunder is the sound of the air that lightning heats and expands. Lightning is the cause of thunder, but this statement gives a wrong mechanism.
- ✗ 3. Strong updraughts help a thunderstorm develop and build up electric charge. They are not what makes the sound of thunder.
- ✓ (d) Thunder comes from the rapid heating and explosive expansion of air by the lightning discharge. None of statements 1 to 3 describes this.
Remember · Thunder is the sound of air heated by lightning to tens of thousands of degrees and expanding explosively. Lightning causes thunder, not the other way round.
Sources
- NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory – Severe Weather 101: Lightning FAQ ↗ “The high pressure air then expands outward into the surrounding air compressing it and causing a disturbance that propagates in all directions away from the stroke.”
- UCAR Center for Science Education – Thunder and Lightning ↗ · reference work “This extreme heating causes the air to expand explosively fast. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, known as thunder”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2013, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·