WHY DOES LIGHTNING OCCUR?

LIGHTNING AND THUNDER [THE SCOTS MAN]

Lightning is an electrical spark caused by imbalances between rain clouds and the earth or within the clouds themselves. Some of the lightning happens within the clouds.

“Sheet lightning” describes a distant bolt that lights up a cloud base. Other visible bolts may appear as beads, ribbon or rocket lightning.

During the storm, the colliding particles of rain, ice, or snow inside the storm clouds increase the imbalance between the storm clouds and the ground, often negatively affecting the lower reaches of the storm clouds. Objects on the ground, such as steeples, trees, and the Earth itself, are positively charged — creating the imbalance that nature seeks to remedy by passing the current between the two charges.

Lightning is extremely hot — a flash can heat the air around it to temperatures five times hotter than the surface of the sun. This heat causes the surrounding air to rapidly expand and vibrate, creating a pealing thunder that we hear a short time after seeing a flash of lightning.

TYPES OF LIGHTNING

Cloud-to – ground lightning bolts are a normal phenomenon — about 100 reaches Earth’s surface per second — but their strength is exceptional. Each bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity.

A traditional cloud-to – ground lightning bolt occurs when a step-like sequence of negative charges, called a steep master, descends from the bottom of a storm cloud to Earth through a 200,000 mph (300,000 km / h) path. Each of these parts is approximately 150 feet (46 meters) wide.

If the lowest move falls within 150 feet (46 meters) of a positively charged surface, it is met with an upward burst of positive energy, called a streamer, which may climb up through a house, a flower, or even a individual.

When the two are linked, the electrical current moves as negative charges pass through the river into the earth and a noticeable burst of lightning flashes upwards at some 200,000,000 mph (300,000,000 km / h), transmitting energy as lighting in the process.

Any forms of lightning, even the most popular kinds, never leave the clouds, but fly through normally charged places inside or within the clouds. Other unusual examples may be caused by severe forest fires, volcano eruptions and snowstorms. Ball lightning, a thin, charged ball that floats, glows and bounces, immune to the rules of gravity or physics, often surprises scientists.

Approximately one to 20 cloud-to – ground lightning bolts are “strong lightning,” a sort that originates from the positively charged tops of storm clouds. These attacks reverse the charge cycle of traditional lightning bolts, which are much stronger and more damaging. Good lightning will travel through the skies and hit “out of the blue” more than 10 miles away from the storm cloud where it was created.

The Impact of a Lightning Strike

Lightning isn’t just amazing, it’s deadly. About 2,000 individuals are struck by lighting every year worldwide. Thousands also endure attacks but suffer from a number of long-term effects, including memory loss, dizziness , fatigue, numbness, and other life-altering ailments. Strikes can cause cardiac arrest and severe burns, but 9 out of 10 people survive. The typical Person has around a 1 in 5,000 probability of getting hit by lightning in his lifetime.

The extreme heat of Lightning vaporizes the water inside the tree, creating steam that could blow the tree apart. Cars are lighting havens — but not for the cause most say. Tires conduct current, as do metal frames that hold a charge to the ground without injury.

Most houses are grounded by rods and other defenses that bring the lightning bolt to the ground without damage. Homes can often be unintentionally trapped in pipes, gutters, or other products. Grounded buildings provide security, but residents who contact flowing water or using a landline phone can be shocked by electrical electricity.