Lightning

Lightening is an atmosphere phenomena, where charged particles travel from cloud to cloud or from cloud to ground. When this happens a light appears and later a loud noise is heard (thunder).

Thunder storm occurs when most air rises vertically. This causes the clouds to cool down and condense. As these clouds rise they occur in electric charge. These discharges (lightening) release tremendous amounts of energy often in the form of sound. This sound generates what we know as thunder. Since this whole process begin with the condensation of water, thunder storm are normally associate with rain.

For an observer on earth, the light occurrence and the thunder are not at the same time. This is because light and sound do not have the same speed. The electric discharge will follow the route with the lowest electric resistance. Lightning consists of many discharges, with a total timelength of 500 microseconds. When a discharge happens between two clouds, the length can range from 10 - 15 km. A discharge between a cloud and the earth is never larger then 2 - 3 km.

Lightning

The current during a discharge is between 10,000 and 50,000 Ampère, but the electrical field can rise to about 300,000 Volt / meter. The energy supplied by the lighten, causes oxygen and nitrogen to react and form ozone and nitrogen oxide. On earth, lightning has cause for the death of humans or animals and also the source of fires.








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