Why is the flash of lightning seen earlier than the sound of thunder?
Lightning is seen earlier than thunder because light travels much faster than sound.The roar of thunder is the result of a shock wave produced when lightning super-heats the air through which it passes, causing that air to expand very rapidly. This rapid expansion of air creates a shock wave that travels outward at close to the speed of sound which is around 741 mph or 1,192 kph (exact speed of sound varies with air pressure and temperature, but it does not vary enough to be relevant to this answer). Light, on the other hand, travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 km per second).Consequently, the flash of light that we see travels from the lightning bolt that created it to our eyes so quickly that we might as well just think of it as instantaneous. Sound, however, takes approximately 5 seconds to travel one mile (3 seconds to travel one kilometer) resulting in the delay we notice in the sound of thunder.Here is a fun and practical way to use this information. If you want to know approximately how far away a lightning strike was, wait for the flash of lightning and then start counting the seconds that pass before you hear the thunder. Divide the number of seconds by 5 to determine how many miles away the lightning strike was, or divide by 3 to determine the distance in kilometers.However, if you decide to try this experiment, please do it from inside a completely enclosed building with all doors and windows closed, because even if one bolt of lightning is far away, the next one might strike near you, or even exactly where you are, so take shelter!When thunder roars, get indoors!
My moms car makes a weird noise and the TCS light flashes? Help!?
Yes. Get out your Snap-On Solus diagnostic scanner and plug it into the diagnostic port making sure you have the correct module fitted to the scanner. You do have one of these right? If not you can order one from Snap-On for $3,895.00. Sorry girlie but this isn't a problem you would even understand and you aren't going to be fixin' it with anything you have on hand. Make an appointment and bring it in.
Microwave makes loud buzzing noise and flashes bright light when I turn it on.. is it broken?
I think this happened before...Im not sure. It happened when I was heating up a dry, hard thing of wax to wax my eyebrows, and wonder if that did it. I am totally afraid to use it. Its an over the stove microwave.
If you drive long enough with a flashing check engine light, what can happen?
The flashing CEL is indicative of a severe condition.In particular it can mean the introduction of unburned fuel into the exhaust stream ...which can lead to catastrophic failure of the catalytic converter (the word *BOOM* comes to mind).I suppose it never occurred to you to look in the owners manual to see what, specifically, the flashing CEL means with regard to your vehicle.In most cases it means quit driving the car, there is something seriously wrong that can cause serious problems and you need to get the car looked at ASAP.Or, you can be the poster person for the "Ignorance Is Bliss" society and keep driving your car ...until it's not ...."bliss" that is.
Why did my car shake and the check engine light flash while stopped at a light?
What you experienced was almost certainly a misfire event and the cause may be recorded as a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) in the engine controller’s memory. Most failures that are significant enough to cause MIL illumination will record a trouble code and its environmental/ data information from the moment, even if the MIL is no longer lit. Onboard Diagnostics work constantly to keep the MIL off, looking for a reason to turn the CE light out if the condition hasn’t been seen again recently, eventually even erasing trouble codes if all’s good. I can only speculate on the nature of your event, but a thorough scan to retrieve codes and freeze frame data of the moment will often shed some light on the situation.Misfires come in many flavors, ranging from slight loss of performance in a single cylinder, to one or more holes being completely dead. Your description of shake at an idle implies a power imbalance, which usually involves complete loss of performance, but just one hole.Barring an at-home scanner being available, rolling the ignition key from LOCK to RUN three times, then leaving it in the RUN position at the end will initiate the customer code-read feature, spilling any matured codes stored in the PCM through the instrument cluster’s odometer window. All codes will be four digits in length, beginning with the letter P, such as P0123. DTC information can be found at OBD2-OBDII Engine Light Trouble Codes Definitions, Description and Repair Information online.One-trip failures - those that have not quite matured - will not be displayed in this feature, but will show up on a high-end scanner if present.If only a single cylinder misfire code is retrieved, pull the coil and spark plug to inspect for signs of flashover - black marks on the upper spark plug insulator and inner coil boot that will not scratch off with a fingernail. Flashover is pretty common on coil-on-plug ignition systems and the cure is to replace both the boot and spark plug together. Worn plugs tend to incite this sort of situation as spark will always seek the path of least resistance.If your DTC list includes an injector control circuit code that matches the cylinder of misfire, chances are good that the injector is at fault. The injector may test as completely normal when cooler, but will go to an open circuit once heated, either naturally or with a heat gun.
When i hear a loud sudden noise, i see a flash of light?
it only happens when the noise startles me, sometimes i see flashes of pure white, and sometimes i see snowy fuzz like a broken television. what do you think this is? could it be some form of synesthesia?
Why is my car shaking and the check engine light flashing?
A shaking vehicle AND flashing MIL ("check engine light") sound like the vehicle is misfiring on at least one cylinder. As @Anna Nguyen, @Brendan Sinclair, @Antoun Nabhan and others have said, it could be an ignition related problem. It could also be fuel-related. If one or more fuel injectors are clogged or dead, that would also cause a misfire in the affected cylinder(s). These are relatively cheap/easy things to check and fix.Other causes (which could be more complicated and more expensive) to fix include contaminated fuel, a bent intake or exhaust valve, a broken valve spring, a damaged piston/connecting rod, and on and on.I recommend getting a scan tool and checking the codes which are causing the MIL to light/flash and I also strongly recommend NOT driving the vehicle until the problem is fixed. If you continue to drive the vehicle as is, you will exacerbate the problem. Dumping unburned fuel into the exhaust due to a misfire will overheat and kill your catalytic converter. A more serious problem like a bent valve can eventually cause you to crater your engine (i.e.: completely destroy the engine).