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Lightning is a natural phenomenon formed by electrostatic discharges through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions, either both in the atmosphere or one in the atmosphere and one on the ground, temporarily neutralizing these in a near-instantaneous release of an average of between 200 megajoules and 7 gigajoules of energy, depending on the type.
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).
Lightning currents have a very fast rise time, on the order of 40 kA per microsecond. Hence, although lightning is a form of direct current, conductors of such currents exhibit marked skin effect as with an alternating current, causing most of the currents to flow through the outer surface of the conductor. [32]
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 ...
They're also the months when 75% of the annual deaths from lightning strikes — however rare — happen. ... People have been trying to figure out why the sky breaks out into a scary light-and ...
The lightning that triggered it was in Polverigi, AN, Italy, at a distance of 285 km. Its strength, estimated at about 410 kA (kilo-Ampère), which is an order of magnitude stronger than a normal lightning (10 to 30 kilo-Ampère), generated an intense electromagnetic pulse. The red ring marks where the pulse hit the Earth's ionosphere.
For decades, scientists have theorized that volcanic lightning on an early Earth played a crucial role in kickstarting life on the planet by breaking molecules into useful, biological components.
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]