Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. [1] [2] [3] Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning produces rapid expansion of the air in the path of a lightning bolt. [4]
Sympathetic lightning is the tendency of lightning to be loosely coordinated across long distances. Discharges can appear in clusters when viewed from space. [22] [23] [24] [clarification needed] Upward lightning or ground-to-cloud lightning is a lightning flash which originates from the top of a grounded object and propagates upward from this ...
Lightning strikes over One World Trade Center, center right, during a thunderstorm seen from The Heights neighborhood of Jersey City, N.J., Sunday, June 2, 2013.
If historical trends hold, deaths by lightning will peak this month. Typically, 32 people die every year in the U.S., most of them while recreating.
Lightning is one of nature's most powerful forces, and in 2022, there was an increase in lightning activity in the United States. In fact, there were more lightning bolts detected across the U.S ...
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]
A new study suggests that cloud-to-ground lightning likely provided the necessary material for the first organisms on Earth to form. All Life on Earth Might Have Started From Lightning, Scientists Say