However, the traditional newspaper (if there really is such an animal) is threatened by shrinking readership. Television is focused on entertainment, even when it dresses it up as news.. Radio is threatened by satellites. All are confronted with the frictionless distribution enabled by the Internet, the disruptive effects of digital information. None have figured out a business model that pays for content at today's rates.
Thunder is a compression wave and will dissipate with time and distance. Under excellent conditions, thunder can be heard about 12 miles away from the lightning strike. However most of the time conditions arenât this good and we usually canât hear thunder any more than about 5 miles away.
At large distances from the center, the shock wave (thunder) can be many miles across. The shock wave is greatly elongated. To the listener, it is the combination of the millions of shock waves that gives thunder the continuous booming/rumbling sound we hear. How sound waves travel through cool and warm air.