What is Lightning: Definition and 262 Discussions

Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily equalize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of as much as one gigajoule of energy. This discharge may produce a wide range of electromagnetic radiation, from very hot plasma created by the rapid movement of electrons, to brilliant flashes of visible light in the form of black-body radiation. Lightning causes thunder, a sound from the shock wave which develops as gases in the vicinity of the discharge experience a sudden increase in pressure. Lightning occurs commonly during thunderstorms as well as other types of energetic weather systems, but volcanic lightning can also occur during volcanic eruptions.
The three main kinds of lightning are distinguished by where they occur: either inside a single thundercloud, between two different clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. Many other observational variants are recognized, including "heat lightning", which can be seen from a great distance but not heard; dry lightning, which can cause forest fires; and ball lightning, which is rarely observed scientifically.
Humans have deified lightning for millennia. Idiomatic expressions derived from lightning, such as the English expression "bolt from the blue", are common across languages.

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  1. J

    RF emitted from Lightning strikes

    Hello All, I’m still perusing the whole idea of tapping into the energy in the Schumann Resonance cavity. But, even if I can manage to do that, I figured it would be a good idea to at least find out how much energy is actually there to couple with. Recently, I corresponded with a...
  2. G

    Why Doesn't Lightning Pull the Cloud to the Ground?

    Homework Statement We were reading about lightning and how the cloud has a different charge than the ground. We know that lightning happens because of induction. But if the charges are different, why doesn't the Earth pull the cloud to the ground, or repel it higher into the air...
  3. T

    Using lightning for electrolysis

    I was wondering what would happen if you somehow were able to harness a bolt of lightning into an electrolysis reaction? Normally you would use DC current and put 2 electrodes in a bucket of water. The water will split into 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen molecule. With the lightning, you would have...
  4. E

    Is Ball Lightning Just a Slow-Burning Gas Phenomenon?

    I am a junior in high school, and am working on a project to figure out what ball lighting is. I currently believe the name “ball lightning” probably covers a group of different phenomena. I started by doing research on the net. I found that little research has been done on the subject. Most...
  5. T

    Can We Harvest Lightning for Energy?

    hey all, has it ever been possible or even attempted to capture the vast amount of electricty there is in lightning?:rofl: all that ground wire is in almost every non-stationairy device leads into the ground. (kind of waisting electricity in my opinion) why can't we use all this...
  6. R

    Protecting Your Laptop During Thunderstorms: Lightning & Ethernet Risks

    Suppose I have a laptop on battery power, connected to a network router which is AC powered, during a thunderstorm. Will a voltage spike at the router cause any damage to my laptop NIC?
  7. B

    Lightning strikes - safe in car, but

    Lightning strikes - safe in car, but... Hii 2 all, I am new here, and this is my first. We all know that when a lightning strikes one is very safe inside a car. Coming to my Q. Gauss law states, Charges Resides on the outside of a conductor. Fine. Applying the same to a car, a car...
  8. BobG

    Lightning Strike Damage: TVs, Cable Modem & VCR

    We had a thunderstorm Thursday evening and I think my house got zapped by lightening. I lost two TV's, a VCR, and my cable modem. Of course, the good news is that the cheaper the TV, the less damage it sustained. The best TV doesn't turn on at all, while the picture only fills half the screen...
  9. wolram

    Cooker broke after lightning storm

    :grumpy: Ever since a lightning storm (last week) my cooker will not go for more than 5 minutes, i set the power and 5 minutes later it sounds an alarm, now i know it has a timer on it but i can not get it to disengage, the buttons i have are, minut minder, cook period, end time, manual, - and...
  10. E

    Deriving Power From Lightning - Is It Possible?

    I Was Wondering If We Could Derive Energy From Lightening Strikes ,when The Sky Is Overcast With Clouds We Have Various Potential Diffrences In The Sky wrt to ground ,so Can We Connect A Conductor Of Some Sort To Convert These Potential Diffrences Into Current , I Once Saw This Crazy...
  11. B

    Lightning bolt power and Back to the Future

    This is the second time I write this post because the first time it got deleted...so I must say that I am not going to go into all the detail that I went into the first time I wrote this..not to mention that I'm a bit p.o.'d. In back to the future, doc brown says that a lightning bolt can...
  12. B

    Learn About Lightning and Motion - Williamson Labs

    When i was learning electronic stuff on the site, i found this... perhaps somebody could help the webmaster. http://www.williamson-labs.com/lightning-motion.htm i've got no idea.
  13. wolram

    What are some reported observations of ball lightning?

    http://www.electronpowersystems.com/Images/Ball%20Lightning%20Explained.pdf Thought this may be of interest.
  14. E

    Speed for lightning and thunder

    i don't understand how you can estimate how far the lightning flash is from you by counting the seconds betw the flash and thunder, then divide by three to result in the distance in kilometers. can someone please explain where does the logic that resulted in this rule? i don't understand why it...
  15. Ivan Seeking

    Ball lightning produced in lab?

    http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/10/2/6/1
  16. M

    When lightning happens. Does energy bleed off into space?

    When lightning happens. Does energy bleed off into space, or does the electrical energy get completely absorbed into the atmosphere?
  17. I

    Lightning Powered Electromagnets

    What kind of Magnetic flux do you think we could harness with a scheme like this Lightning Powered Electromagnet.
  18. A

    Overcoming Lightning: Price Issue or Something Else?

    Hi, I was just very curious and sort of frustrated when this topic comes to my mind. How the heck we can't overcome lightning in such a modern age? You see when there's lightning, I cant: 1)On my com 2)Online 3)On the TV 4)Pick up the phone 5)everything related to electrical and electronics...
  19. Pengwuino

    Did i blink my eyes or was it lightning?

    So there i was sitting there minding my own business. I turn my head towards this window and i blink my eyes and i swear right as my eyes were closing, i thought i saw some lightning. Now of course, its been a clear day, no clouds... so I am assuming it was just my eyes blinking. Well 5...
  20. J

    Lightning travels through the path of least resistance

    Hello, I have a question for you, what I need to know is if lightning travels through the path of least resistance or the shortest path available. Hence would lightning travel through a 50Ft. piece of copper wiring or a 40 Piece of thick mj-11 coax cable. This applies in the design and...
  21. B

    Cosmic particles result in lightning

    i recently read and article say 2 months ago in the ottawa sun but my memory is fuzzy and i did not get to finish the article I am not sure if this has been discussed on here or not and if this is the correst palce to post this but a sceintest was claiming that our understanding of that we...
  22. R

    Question about Einstein's train and lightning

    Einstein wrote about a long train that experienced bolts of lighting hitting on both ends. Einstein tells us that a midway observer on the ground would see both bolts at the same time, but the midway observer on the train would have moved off from the same ground point because of the time it...
  23. W

    How many electrons are involved in a lightning flash

    A typical lightning flash delivers about 35 C of negative charge from cloud to ground. How many electrons are involved? Im not extactly sure how to approach this question. it should be an easy one since it's one of the first problems from the book. Im thinking i might need to use this...
  24. I

    Lightning strikes and computers

    my grandparents house has a problem of getting hit by lightning, unfortunately this time it fried their computer and TV (even with a surge protector?) as for the computer, i was wondering what could be salvagable from it, im assuming the motherboard will be useless, but what about the...
  25. JamesU

    Lightning Speed Internet: Killing Franzbear with Ease!

    I have discovered a new USB port on my computer, and my internet is faster than ever! off to kill franzbear with lightning speed! muahahaha! :devil:
  26. P

    What Causes Ball Lightning and How is it Controlled?

    I am in the final stages of writing a paper on a Ball Lightning event earlier this year in Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK. The event occurred in February, late evening during a cold NE airstream with occasional snow showers. It appears to have been precipitated by an aircraft contacting a large...
  27. Mk

    Is lightning caused by ice particles?

    http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1443052.htm One of many articles on the proof that lightning is caused by ice flying around in the atmosphere. Apparently meteorologists are pretty certain about this. What about on Venus? There's a lot of lightning there, but certainly no ice...
  28. P

    Lightning strikes a swimming pool

    If a lightning strikes a swimming pool, what happens to me if I am swimming? I think it is not a complete circuit, so I won't get enormous current. But, will the sharing of excess charge too fast and I get hurt?
  29. T

    Ball Lightning: Eyewitness Accounts and Descriptions

    Ball Lightning! Has anyone observed ball lightning (in close proximity) with their own eyes? Could you describe its behavior? What were your first thoughts? Thanks in advance.
  30. D

    How fast can lightning change direction?

    Does lightning mainly just move in a straight line or can it change really quickly? Can it move around objects, like something that's not a good conductor, to get to something that is?
  31. S

    Can Man Sustain Lightning Bolts with Extreme Voltage AC?

    Can the electron avalanches like in lightning bolts be sustained using extremely high voltage AC current? Man-made bolts are much more "wild" and short than the lightning hitting the Earth from the sky. Why is it so? Is this because the electric field in the clouds is less divergent?
  32. D

    Electrical question (well, lightning, really)

    Can lightning shoot up? Say someone had a device that could fire out lightning, would it shoot upwards or would it come down? Oh! And if the person had mechanical devices on them, like metal or something, would the lightning be attracted to it?
  33. M

    Risk of lightning strike on a car.

    I understand that when lightning hits a car, the static currents stay on external surface only. So , can I assume that we can safely touch any parts including those metallic conductive parts on the inside of the car? Or would the occupants be electrocuted? If it were to be alternative...
  34. S

    Unraveling the Mystery of Lightning: Is it AC or DC?

    I've been having problems trying to come up with an answer for this seemingly simple question. I would think that lightning would be one short jolt of direct current; the current flowing in only one direction for a brief duration. However, I've been told that it is AC current by a teacher of...
  35. Pengwuino

    Is Lightning a Viable Source for Hydrogen Production?

    Man I am just throwing out some crazy ideas today :P. What is the problems (or my own misperceptions on the ideas) with using lightning for hydrolysis for creating hydrogen? You could have huge water reservoirs and have a lightning rod capture hte lightning and travel through hte water and...
  36. S

    Calculating Time and Weight in a Lunar Cliff Drop

    i have a physics assignment and can't do a few questions, normally i would not resort to asking, but i am really stuck 1. 2 lightning strikes occur simultaneously 10km apart if an observer was 2km from one and 8km from another a) find the time delay between the first flash and the second...
  37. G

    Solve Gale's Lightning Problem: Find the Charge & Electrons

    HI, i have this problem that I've been working on, i get 5 tries to get it right, and i only have one try left, so i have to get this right. O-16-3 Supposed that during a thunderstorm, the corona discharge from a dissipative lightning rod into the surround air amounts to 0.799 x 10-4 C of...
  38. F

    Why Do Sparks and Lightning Emit Light?

    Greetings--I have a few questions about lightning and sparks. =) (1) When you rub a glass rod on a piece of fur, I understand that there is a flow of electrons from one to the other. What property of these materials causes electrons to be released--i.e. is it because there are weakly-bound...
  39. Ivan Seeking

    Tornadoes and Ball Lightning

    The author makes a lot of strange statements but this is interesting. I am posting this for the descriptions and personal accounts, and certainly not for the theories described. http://www.padrak.com/ine/ELEWIS3.html
  40. Ivan Seeking

    10^6 X stronger than Earth¹s lightning: Some of Cassini's findings discussed

    http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1355&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
  41. Ivan Seeking

    Little Black Holes: Dark Matter And Ball Lightning

    http://arxiv.org/ftp/astro-ph/papers/0212/0212251.pdf
  42. 1

    Magnetic field of a lightning bolt

    In a lightning bolt, 14 C of charge flows in a time of 1.5 x 10^-3 s. Assuming that the lightning bolt can be represented as a long, straight line of current, what is the magnitude of the magnetic field at a distance of 27 m from the bolt? do i use 27 m as the radius in the equation B =...
  43. R

    Exploring Lightning and Physics: Grade 12 Project Ideas and Support

    hey ppl...i really need ur help here...please give me some ideas because i am making a project about Physics and Lightning. so if u can support me with interesting ideas coz i am bored from da ones i already saw...i will relly apperitiate the help...thnx alot...and yea..i am in Grade 12, so make...
  44. N

    What is the value of n for 1 km distance between seeing and hearing an event?

    The speed of light is 3.0*10^8 m/s and the speed of sound is 340 m/s. Find the vaule of the interger n in the following statement:"If you start counting seconds when you see something happen and stop when you hear it happen, for every n seconds counted the event was about 1 km away." but 3...
  45. M

    Unraveling the Mystery of Lightning Balls

    Ok i don't know if you ppl know these http://storeforknowledge.com/stores/163/images/lightning%20ball%20large.jpg How do these work?
  46. Loren Booda

    Does Carrying an Umbrella Increase Your Chances of Being Struck by Lightning?

    Does the metal pole of most umbrellas increase significantly the risk of the bearer being struck by lightning? In many ways its construction, as a conductor with a tapered tip used during electrical storms, resembles that of a lightning rod!
  47. K

    About how to prevent being struck by lightning

    They say if you're in a thunderstorm and you have no other place to go, you should search a hollow, crouch and hold your feet close together. The hollow thing and the crouching thing are easy to understand, but what's the reason for putting your feet together?
  48. wasteofo2

    Anyone want to explain lightning to a layman?

    I have very little knowledge of physics, I'm 16 and won't be taking physics for another 2 years. But regardless, I'm curious, could somoene explain what exactly causes lightning, what makes it strike etc.? In 7th grade this was actually covered, I think I remember something about differing...
  49. 0

    Lightning Mystery: AC DC & Neutral Fields/Currents in Earth

    I have heard lightning in the tropics is responsable for creating AC Dc and Neutral fields/currents in the Earth that spread all over the planet. Can anyon confirm this as a theory or fact and if so who formed the theory and when. regards tony
  50. T

    Can Lightning Shatter a Diamond in the Desert?

    Can lightning break diamond..? :redface:
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