Lightning

Power point created by Robert MartinezPrimary Content Source: National GeographicImages as cited.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/lightning-profile/

Cloud-to-ground lightning bolts are a common phenomenon—about 100 strike Earth’s surface every single second—yet

their power is extraordinary.

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Each bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity.

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This enormous electrical discharge is caused by an imbalance between positive and negative charges.

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During a storm, colliding particles of rain, ice, or snow increase this imbalance and often negatively charge the lower reaches

of storm clouds.

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Objects on the ground, like steeples, trees, and the Earth itself, become positively

charged—creating an imbalance that nature seeks to remedy by passing current

between the two charges.

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A step-like series of negative charges, called a stepped leader, works its way

incrementally downward from the bottom of a storm cloud toward the Earth.

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Each of these segments is about 150 feet long.

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When the lowermost step comes within 150 feet of a positively charged object it is met by a climbing surge of positive electricity,

called a streamer, which can rise up through a building, a tree, or even a

person.

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The process forms a channel through which electricity is transferred as lightning.

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Some types of lightning, including the most common types, never leave the clouds but travel between differently charged areas

within or between clouds

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Other rare forms can be sparked by extreme forest fires, volcanic eruptions, and

snowstorms.

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Ball lightning, a small, charged sphere that floats, glows, and bounces along oblivious to the laws of gravity or physics, still puzzle

scientists.

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Lightning is extremely hot—a flash can heat the air around it to temperatures five times

hotter than the sun’s surface.

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This heat causes surrounding air to rapidly expand and vibrate, which creates the

pealing thunder we hear a short time after seeing a lightning flash.

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Lightning is not only spectacular, it’s dangerous. About 2,000 people are killed

worldwide by lightning each year.

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Hundreds more survive strikes but suffer from a variety of lasting symptoms, including memory loss, dizziness,

weakness, numbness, and other life-altering ailments.

This lady was burned at a rock concert at RFK stadium.

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