if its thundering, does that mean its lightninging? or is it still just lightning? anyone have an answer.....cause i don't

By definition, thunder is the loud noise that occurs when atmospheric gases are suddenly heated by a discharge of lightning. Thunder is also the huge crash that gets the adrenaline running through the veins, especially when it follows a lightning strike too close for comfort!

Thunder is made up of a series of sound vibrations caused by lightning strikes. You always hear thunder after the flash of lightning and with good reason.

Lightning travels at the speed of light, an estimated 186,000 miles per second or one mile in 5.3 millionths of a second.

Sound waves, on the other hand, travel at a snail's pace when compared with the speed of light, only 1,088 feet per second or one mile in about five seconds.

To figure out the distance of a lightning strike from where you are, you merely have to count the seconds between when you see the flash and when you hear the thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five (1 mile is equal to approximately 4.8 seconds).
This will give you a fairly accurate estimate of the number of miles between you and the lightning strike you just witnessed.

The rumble of thunder is created as your ear catches other parts of the discharge, the part of the lightning flash nearest you registering first, then the parts further away.

Thunder On-Air:
How often have you been traveling down the highway trying to listen to a ball game on AM radio when the big play is interrupted by a loud crackle of static electricity? What you heard was a high frequency electromagnetic signal caused by lightning in a nearby thunderstorm.

Other elements of a thunderstorm include hail and lightning. Some of the most severe weather may occur in a microburst.

Hi rudi66. I hope this answers your question..

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"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.".............
Dan Quayle

Just a slight correction. You don't always hear thunder after lightning. For example, heat lightning. If you have any info on why that is, pinhead, i'd be interested.

Hi Pete.

Heat lightning: Flashes too far away for an observer to hear the thunder.
...Like sheet lightning, these flashes are created by lightning bolts, but are in thunderstorms more than 10 miles away. Trees, buildings and urban noise can cut this distance to less than five miles.

It's called heat lightning because it is seen more frequently on hot summer nights when the sky overhead is clear. Often, air molecules and dust particles in the atmosphere refract the light coming from distant lightning, making the bolts or flashes appear orange.

Does this help explain it ??

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"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.".............
Dan Quayle

Yes it does, thank you very much.