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May 6, 2020 · Most people know that lightning strikes can destroy - but it turns out, they can also create. On rare occasions, when a bolt of electricity hits sand or soil, the resulting jolt of extreme heat can melt and fuse together stunning and fragile hollow tubes of glass.
Jul 2, 2013 · When the lightning perfectly strikes the sand, it branches through it like the root system of a tree to make this beautiful anomaly. But that simple fact is key to getting to the root of the viral photo: The lightning creates a tube of glass through the ground, not above it. You can actually see the impact hole when it occurs in rock.
A lightning strike or lightning bolt is a lightning event in which the electric discharge takes place between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning.
Jan 15, 2014 · Lightning’s raw power sparks the imagination, leaving many to wonder: “What would actually happen if I were struck by lightning?” Unfortunately, the answer doesn’t involve super powers.
- Seeing Lightning
- Lightning’s Partner
- Conditions Needed For Lightning to Occur
- Lightning Production
- Monitoring Lightning
- Red Sprites
- St Elmo’s Fire
Lightning is visible as a flash of blue-white light. The extremely high temperatures generated heat the air molecules to a state of incandescence (white hot) such that they emit a vivid white light. At the same time, nitrogen gas (the dominant gas in the atmosphere) is stimulated to luminesce, producing bright blue-white. The combination of light f...
Temperatures in the narrow lightning channel reach about 25,000°C. The surrounding air is rapidly heated, causing it to expand violently at a rate faster than the speed of sound, similar to a sonic boom. At about 10 m out from the channel, it becomes an ordinary sound wave called thunder. Thunder is effectively exploding air, and when heard close t...
It is the formation and separation of positive and negative electric charges within the atmosphere that creates the highly intensive electric fieldneeded to support this natural spark discharge that is lightning. The formation of electric charges in the atmosphere is due mainly to the ionisation of air molecules by cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are high...
As the area of negative charge at the base of the thundercloud builds up, it induces a region of positive charge to develop on the ground below. As a result of this, a potential difference or voltage is created across the cloud-to-ground gap. Once the voltage reaches a certain strength, the air between the base of the cloud and the ground develops ...
A worldwide lightning location network (WWLLN, pronounced ‘woollen’) was founded in New Zealand in 2003. Working with the collaborationof scientists from around the world, the network plots lightning discharge locations seconds after they occur. Around the world, there are about 45 lightning flashes per second. Apart from generating the characteris...
High above thunderstorm clouds at altitudes between 50–90 km, large-scale electrical discharges can occur. These are triggered by thundercloud-to-ground lightning activity. They appear as fleeting, luminous, red-orange flashes and take on a variety of shapes. Unlike ‘hot plasma’ lightning, they are cold plasma forms somewhat similar to the discharg...
In the region between a thundercloud and the ground, a very strong electric field can be set up. There is a huge potential difference (voltage) established between the negative base of the cloud and the positive ground. When this potential difference reaches a certain value, sharp-pointed ground-based objects are seen to glow, often with a hissing ...
Where does lightning strike? Most, if not all, lightning flashes produced by storms start inside the cloud. If a lightning flash is going to strike ground, a channel develops downward toward the surface.
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The Impact of a Lightning Strike. Lightning is not only spectacular, it’s dangerous. About 2,000 people are killed worldwide by lightning each year. Hundreds more survive strikes but suffer from...
