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Lightning is a natural phenomenon, more specifically an atmospheric electrical phenomenon. It consists of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions, either both existing within the atmosphere or one within the atmosphere and one on the ground, with these regions then becoming partially or wholly electrically neutralized.
Speculations of Jean-Antoine Nollet had led to the issue of the electrical nature of lightning being posed as a prize question at Bordeaux in 1749. In 1750, it was the subject of public discussion in France with a dissertation of Denis Barberet receiving a prize in Bordeaux. Barberet proposed a cause in line with the triboelectric effect.
In sliding friction, [108] when asperities contact ... leading to static charge and lightning. ... This was the cause of a 2017 explosion that killed one and injured ...
Thunderstorm — also electrical storm, form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. Triboelectric effect — Type of contact electrification in which objects become electrically charged after coming into contact and are then separated.
Pockels (1897) estimated lightning current intensity by analyzing lightning flashes in basalt (c. 1900) [12] and studying the left-over magnetic fields caused by lightning. [13] Discoveries about the electrification of the atmosphere via sensitive electrical instruments and ideas on how the Earth's negative charge is maintained were developed ...
Lightning over Rymań. Northern Poland. Perhaps the best known example of a natural spark is lightning. In this case the electric potential between a cloud and ground, or between two clouds, is typically hundreds of millions of volts. The resulting current that cycles through the stroke channel causes an enormous transfer of energy.
Natural static discharge caused by a lightning strike Small hairs standing up after a thunderstorm, as a result of the left over weak static electricity Main article: Lightning Lightning is a dramatic natural example of static discharge.
Sheet lightning is cloud-to-cloud lightning that exhibits a diffuse brightening of the surface of a cloud, caused by the actual discharge path being hidden or too far away. The lightning itself cannot be seen by the spectator, so it appears as only a flash, or a sheet of light. The lightning may be too far away to discern individual flashes.