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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.
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.
Typically, lightning discharges 30,000 amperes, at up to 100 million volts, and emits light, radio waves, x-rays and even gamma rays. [1] Plasma temperatures in lightning can approach 28,000 kelvins. Atmospheric electricity describes the electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet).
What is the purpose of lightning? That might sound like a deeply philosophical question, but scientists may have shed some more light on the answer with the results of a recently released study ...
Lightning is frequent and intense, greater than 15 cloud-to-ground strikes in a five-minute period. 6 Dry lightning (same as LAL 3 but without rain). This type of lightning has the potential for starting fires, and is normally highlighted in fire weather forecasts with a red flag warning.
Global map of lightning frequency--strikes/km 2 /yr. The high lightning areas are on land located in the tropics. Areas with almost no lightning are the Arctic and Antarctic, closely followed by the oceans which have only 0.1 to 1 strikes/km 2 /yr. The map on the right shows that lightning is not distributed evenly around the planet. [5]
Wrote the publication, "Essentially, with metal around the outside, and reinforced by a specially engineered mesh material within the skin of the plane, the lightning passes harmlessly around you ...
The basic concept of a global circuit is that through the balance of thunderstorms and fair weather, the atmosphere is subject to a continual and substantial electrical current. Principally, thunderstorms throughout the world carry negative charges to the ground, which is then discharged gradually through the air away from the storms, in ...