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Representation of upper-atmospheric lightning and electrical-discharge phenomena Discovery image of a TLE on Jupiter by the NASA Juno probe. [1]Upper-atmospheric lightning and ionospheric lightning are terms sometimes used by researchers to refer to a family of short-lived electrical-breakdown phenomena that occur well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds.
However, they are cold plasma phenomena that lack the hot channel temperatures of tropospheric lightning, so they are more akin to fluorescent tube discharges than to lightning discharges. Sprites are associated with various other upper-atmospheric optical phenomena including blue jets and ELVES .
These plasma jets are produced by fast propagating guided ionization waves known as plasma bullets. [64] Capacitive discharge: this is a nonthermal plasma generated by the application of RF power (e.g., 13.56 MHz) to one powered electrode, with a grounded electrode held at a small separation distance on the order of 1 cm. Such discharges are ...
Because the electrostatic discharge of terrestrial lightning superheats the air to plasma temperatures along the length of the discharge channel in a short duration, kinetic theory dictates gaseous molecules undergo a rapid increase in pressure and thus expand outward from the lightning creating a shock wave audible as thunder. Since the sound ...
Illustration of St. Elmo's fire on a ship at sea Electrostatic discharge flashes across the windscreen of a KC-10 cockpit.. St. Elmo's fire (also called witchfire or witch's fire) [1] is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object such as a mast, spire, chimney, or animal horn [2] in an atmospheric electric field.
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). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit.
Nitrogen glow Oxygen glow Electrical discharge in air Particle beam from a cyclotron. Ionized-air glow is the luminescent emission of characteristic blue–purple–violet light, often of a color called electric blue, by air subjected to an energy flux either directly or indirectly from solar radiation.
Astrophysical plasma is plasma outside of the Solar System. It is studied as part of astrophysics and is commonly observed in space. [2] The accepted view of scientists is that much of the baryonic matter in the universe exists in this state. [3] When matter becomes sufficiently hot and energetic, it becomes ionized and forms a plasma.