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Material properties (size, color, texture) of fulgurites vary widely, depending on the size of the lightning bolt and the composition and moisture content of the surface struck by lightning. Most natural fulgurites fall on a spectrum from white to black. Iron is a common impurity that can result in a deep brownish-green coloration.
Vitrified sand is a type of natural glass, contrasted with manufactured glass in which soda ash or potash are added to lower the melting point. Pure quartz melts at 1,650 °C (3,002 °F). There are several natural processes that produce more or less melted sand and one man-made form: Fulgurite is sand fused by a lightning bolt hitting sand.
An estimated 4,300 gigajoules (4.3 × 10 19 erg) of heat energy went into forming the glass. As the temperature required to melt the sand into the observed glass form was about 1,470 °C (2,680 °F), this was estimated to have been the minimum temperature the sand was exposed to. [16]
The overall risk of being struck by lightning is very low, with odds of one in 15,300 of being hit in your lifetime (defined as 80 years), according to the National Weather Service.
One common way in which lechatelierite forms naturally is by very-high-temperature melting of quartz sand during a lightning strike. The result is an irregular, branching, often foamy hollow tube of silica glass called a fulgurite. [2] Not all fulgurites are lechatelierite; the original sand must be nearly pure silica.
Madonna Broderick, 55, of Toronto, was seeking refuge in an alcove during a thunderstorm when a piece of insulation flew into a pane of glass -- and a large shard of the glass nearly
The Earth is struck by lightning nearly 20 million times each year, and bolts of lightning can travel as much as 10 to 12 miles from a thunderstorm, instantly heating the air to 50,000 degrees ...
It is estimated that lightning injuries occur 240,000 times a year with 24,000 deaths. [1] Among pregnant women who are hit by lightning, the death of the fetus occurs in about half. [1] In the United States about 1 in 10,000 people are hit by lightning during their lifetime. [1] Males are affected four times more often than females. [1]