Sound Thunder facts

While investigating facts about Sound Thunder, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The origin of "steal someone's thunder" is almost literal. In old plays, people had different methods of making a loud thunder sound. Playwright John Dennis invented a method, but then heard it used in someone else's play. He complained, "They stole my thunder!"

About Havergal Brian who wrote the longest symphony in the world called The Gothic. It has only been performed 6 times since it was finished in 1927. It requires 200 musicians and 800 singers, including brass bands, a children’s choir, and a machine that makes thunder sounds.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 19 of the best facts about Sound Thunder I managed to collect.

1. Three SR-71's flew over the Hanoi Hilton during the Viet Nam war - their sonic booms "the sound of thunder" to alert Vice Admiral Stockdale that if he could escape, Navy SEALs were waiting to rescue him

2. Soviet cosmonauts took a copy of Pink Floyd's live album "Delicate Sound Of Thunder" with them on their mission, making it the first rock album to be played in space. David Gilmour and Nick Mason also attended the mission's launch.

3. The sounds produced by the bass drum have been described as thunderous, rumbling, pounding, hollow, mighty, and even soft at times.

4. The largest chunk of ice to fall from the sky was in Scotland in 1849. After a tremendously loud sound of thunder, a 6 meter wide ice mass weighing half a ton fell from the sky and narrowly missed a farmhouse.

5. The sound of thunder is caused by lightning (which is hotter than the surface of the sun) temporarily superheating the air so that the air moves so fast it breaks the sound barrier. Thunder is a "sonic boom".

6. One of the rock formations in Acadia National Park is referred to as Thunder Hole because waves sound like thunder when they hit it. Water and air are also forced upward through the rock formation's cavern from the waves.

7. The sound of thunder is made when lightning's heat flash causes the air to expand rapidly, and then shrink rapidly. This violent air disturbance causes the sound of thunder.

8. John Dennis coined the term "steal my thunder" because his thunder sound effect invention was literally stolen.

9. The Pink Floyd live album, Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988), was the first rock album to be played in Space...

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There is a rock formation in the park called Thunder Hole. It creates the sound of thunder when waves roll in and shoot air and water up through the cavern.

Thunder can travel further on a cold day than a warm day, due to temperature differences in hot air deflecting sound waves toward the upper atmosphere. - source

Sounds from Thunder Mountain at Disneyland were recorded and used during the mine chase in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - source

The 2012 Summer Olympics Men's foil competition was won by Lei Sheng. Whose name means "The sound of thunder."

A part of the human population can create a 'thunder' sound in their head by squeezing their eyes shut or yawning, because of the Tensor Tympani muscle in your ear. - source

Lightning is defined in "strokes". Multiple strokes in a small area is called a "flash", which gives us the flickering of lightning and sound of rolling thunder. "Strike" is not a scientific term but generally refers to cloud-to-ground lightning.

The expression 'Stealing Someone's Thunder' originates from 1704 when playwright John Dennis invented a new method of creating the sound of thunder for his play Appius and Virginia. His production flopped. The next production at the same theatre, Macbeth, used Dennis' method. He was not pleased.