Thunder is the result of lightning—so anytime you can hear
it, you should be in a shelter such as a house or car. A bolt of
lightning heats the air around it to 50,000 degrees Fahren-
heit. As the lightning lashes, the hot air instantly expands
in every direction, causing a shock wave: thunder. If you’re
close to the lightning, you’ll hear a loud and sharp crack.
Farther away, it’s more of a rumble, as the sound travels and
bounces of of the ground, buildings, and the atmosphere.
While you can see lightning from as far as 100 miles away,
thunder travels only 10 to 15 miles before dissipating.Does it have
a name?
We call it SpotMini.
Is it modeled on
a particular kind
of dog?
No, but it is about
the size and weight
of a big dog, like a
German shepherd.
Can it fetch?
Yes, it can fetch a
soda can, doorknob,
a stick, and a few
other things. We are
teaching/program-
ming it to fetch more
things in the future.
Does it bite?
No mouth. No teeth.
No bite.Bezos—the guy
who started Ama-
zon—caused a big
ruckus while walking
a dog at a technol-
ogy conference.
That’s because the
“dog” was actually a
sophisticated robot,
built by a famous
robotics com-
pany called Boston
Dynamics. We had
lots of questions, so
we checked in with
Boston Dynamics
for answers.Robot
SCIENCE
NEWSWHAT CAUSES THUNDER?Summer ScienceBY
O’NEAL
GadgetO’Neal stars as
Uncle Drew, in
theaters June 29.6 JULY/AUGUST _ 201 POPULARMECHANICS.COM