Lightning Definition and 258 Threads

Two questions. 1. a negative lightning bolt delivers a 15C charge from the ground to the BASE of a thunder cloud (Vpd = 5.0GV) 2. A positive lightning bolt delivers 20Ccharge from the Top of a thunder storm cloud to the ground (Vpd=30GV). Both questions ask how much work is done to move...

Does anybody know why there are very few thunderstorms during winter?(well, here in Montreal, lightning strikes almost never happen during winter, while they do happen during summer) Maybe it's got to do with the level of humidity in the air?

A common method for estimating the distance to a lightning flash is to begin counting when the flash is observed and continue until the thunder clap is heard. The number of seconds counted is then divided by 3 to get the distance in kilometers. What is the velocity of sound in kilometers...

http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_831648.html

Here is a true story for your consideration. I once worked with a guy who some years previously had taken a direct hit by lightning - right in the head. As you might imagine, I asked him what it was like. First, he spent about six months in the hospital. It put him in a coma among other things...

Here in Florida, the lightning capital of the world, I've been getting thunderstorms on a daily basis. Could lightning serve as a reasonable part of a city's power supply, at least during the rainy season? Across an entire city, I'm sure that you could get many strikes per day in this area, if...

"In addition to the usual fare that comes with a thunderstorm, many on the city’s Northeast Side witnessed an unusual dark circle in the sky, which turned out to be a ring of smoke that a weather official said emanated from an 'explosion caused by lightning'"...

"A holidaymaker narrowly escaped death when lightning struck her tongue stud in an electrical storm." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/3047436.stm