Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Pockels (1897) estimated lightning current intensity by analyzing lightning flashes in basalt (c. 1900) [12] and studying the left-over magnetic fields caused by lightning. [13] Discoveries about the electrification of the atmosphere via sensitive electrical instruments and ideas on how the Earth's negative charge is maintained were developed ...
A lightning strike or lightning bolt is a lightning event in which the electric discharge takes place between the atmosphere and the ground. Most originate in a cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning.
In the United States, lightning is especially common in Florida, which is considered the deadliest state for lightning strikes in the country. [4] This is due to high moisture content in the lower atmosphere and high surface temperature, which produces strong sea breezes along the Florida coast. [5] As a result, heat lightning is often seen ...
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 ...
There are about 40,000 thunderstorms per day, generating roughly 100 lightning strikes per second, [1] which can be thought to charge the earth like a battery. Thunderstorms generate an electrical potential difference between the earth's surface and the ionosphere, mainly by means of lightning returning current to ground. Because of this, the ...
A return stroke, cloud-to-ground lightning strike during a thunderstorm. Cloud-to-ground lightning frequently occurs within the phenomena of thunderstorms and have numerous hazards towards landscapes and populations. One of the more significant hazards lightning can pose is the wildfires they are capable of igniting. [54]
Similar to the famous Miller-Urey experiment in 1953, the team simulated the conditions of early Earth in a laboratory, and studied the chemical reactions when simulated lightning strikes struck ...