Lightning is a natural spark that happens due to the flow of electrical charges and can strike even without rain or a thunderstorm around!The flow happens within the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface. When the discharge of electric charges takes place, there is a creation of a plasma channel that conducts electricity leading to the heating up of the air up to 45,032 F (25,000 C).The air expands and makes a loud sound of thunder. A single lightning strike may appear fascinating but it can be very dangerous and can cause disasters. Precautionary measures must be taken even when there is no visible flash and you are standing under a clear blue sky. Lightning bolts are a flash of blue-white light because the nitrogen gas which is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere of the Earth is stimulated to luminescence that produces the bright blue-white.Did you know that on average, the lightning bolt flashing in the sky is almost five times hotter as compared to the surface of the Sun, let alone the surface of the Earth! With such extreme heat, they easily outscore volcanic eruptions in terms of danger.There are many other fascinating and interesting facts about lightning bolts that will certainly intrigue you.Lightning Bolt MeaningWhen lightning strikes and a thunderbolt happens, it is referred to as a lightning bolt. The lightning strike is accompanied by a loud thunderclap, a thunderbolt, which is a symbolic representation of lightning.Lightning occurs when there is an electric discharge for a very short duration between the atmosphere and the ground. Thunder and lightning come as a package as the violent and sudden electrostatic discharge generates a bright flash and thunder. Thunder is that noise that comes when lightning occurs that heats up the air. Lightning heats up the air channel to around 18,000 F (9,982 C) which in turn causes the air to expand which results in a loud sound of thunder.Lightning is an indicator of upcoming weather events that can be dangerous and destructive. It makes people cautious of storms and high wind. A lightning bolt can be very dangerous as it only takes three milliseconds to travel through your body causing severe injury or even death. Even if the person survives, the lightning effects will show lifelong.To avoid such drastic effects from happening, there are some safety tips and precautions to follow:Go indoors in a lightning-safe shelter when you hear a thunderbolt. Do not find shelter under a tree or bushes as they tend to attract lightning bolts. When indoors stay away from loose wires, electrical equipment, and even water.It is a myth that a victim of a lightning strike carries an electric charge that may flow to the person who tends to help him/her by touching or moving. It is completely safe to help a victim by giving them CPR, by touching or moving because there is no electric charge flowing in the victim’s body.There are different types of lightning bolts. The very common type we know is called a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt. But there is also in-cloud lightning that you don’t always see.When lightning strikes, it happens both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground, together it is known as total lightning.When a flash of lightning strikes out of the blue that extends outward from the storm cell, it is referred to as ‘bolts from the blue’. It is because the lightning strikes outward somewhere in the blue skies that are calm and the weather is not at all storm-like. These lightning bolts are unexpected and hence very dangerous for humans.As explained earlier, it is unsafe to take shelter under tall objects or near tall objects when lightning strikes. This is because that person can fall victim to side flashes. Side flashes are a phenomenon the same as a short-circuit wherein lighting strikes the object and the charge flows from the object to the body of the victim.Distant lightning accompanied by loud thunderstorms that can be heard miles away is referred to as ‘heat lightning’. This is an indicator to start taking precautionary measures as that storm could be heading your way. In order to avoid a lightning bolt hit, it is advisable to refrain from going out in the middle of the storm for it is known to heat the surrounding air to almost five times the temperature of the Sun.Lightning Bolt DirectionThere is a very common question that often arises in people’s minds. That question is whether lightning strikes from the sky down or the ground up? According to researchers and scientists, it happens both ways.For each of these types of lightning, current flow and leader development can also take place in both directions. Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down to the ground, but the strange part is that the part of lightning bolt people on Earth see comes from the ground up. This is because when the lightning comes from cloud to ground, the flash lowers a path of negative electricity that we are not capable of seeing, and it comes towards the ground in a series of spurts.Objects on the ground carry a positive charge and since opposite charges attract, an upward streamer is sent out from the object that is about to be struck. When the two paths meet, a return stroke produces the flash that is visible to us and the human eye does not see the actual formation of the stroke.Lightning Bolt FormationFor the formation of a lightning bolt, both cool air and warm air are required. When both types of air meet, the warm air rises up forming thunderstorm clouds. The cool air has ice crystals while the warm air has water droplets.During a storm or high winds, both water droplets and ice crystals bump together and move apart from each other. When they bump together before moving apart, the rubbing between them creates static electric charges in the clouds.We have all seen a battery or a cell, these batteries have a minus sign on one side and plus sign on the other. Similarly, the positive or plus charges are present at the top of the cloud while the minus or the negative charge is present at the bottom of the cloud. When the negative charges present at the bottom of the cloud get strong enough, the cloud lets out electric energy. This energy travels through the air to a place that has the opposite charge.When this happens, a lightning bolt of energy is let out that is called a leader stroke. It can travel from cloud to the ground or from one cloud to another. The main bolt or lightning stroke goes back up to the cloud that makes a flash of lightning, which also heats up the air. The air on heating expands that makes the loud sound of thunder. As per NASA, no one is sure about the zigzag pattern of lightning bolts.Lightning Bolt FeaturesAre you interested in knowing more about the science behind lightning bolts? What is their importance for the Earth, if any? There are a number of facts about lightning bolts that will certainly intrigue you. Read on to know more about the different features of lightning bolts:Lightning bolts can be classified into two categories, negative strikes, and positive strikes.As mentioned earlier, a lightning bolt heats up the air, and any water or humidity that comes its way gets vaporized. It is because the lightning bolt can cause heat over 54,000 F (29,982 C) which is almost five times hotter than the surface of the Sun. In simpler terms, it is three times hotter than the surface of the Earth. Also, lightning bolts travel at the speed of light which is 670,000,000 mph (1,072,000,000 kph). As the hot air around a lightning bolt cools down, it creates a resonating tube of partial vacuum around the path of the lightning.The temperature discussed above is not actually of the lightning bolt itself, in fact, it is of the air and other materials that come in contact with the lightning bolt. It happens because the lightning bolt carries electric charges which raise the heat.There are various myths regarding lightning bolts, one of which is that lightning cannot strike the same place twice. The Empire State Building is one such example of this as lightning strikes here approximately 23 times per year! That is quite strange for lightning’s path to end up at the same place on the Earth so many times every year. As per research from leading scientists, climate change is increasing the instances of lightning strikes across the world.Lightning can strike a place more than once and can strike different places at once. A couple of years ago, a video was recorded that was circulated over the media in which the lightning strikes Willis Tower, Trump Tower, and the John Hancock Building all at once. These buildings are the tallest buildings in Chicago.According to research done by scientists, lightning bolts are not very wide and average between 2-7 in (5.0-17.5 cm).Though lightning bolts are not very wide they can be quite long and in fact can be as long as 90 mi (144 km) as per the research conducted by researcher Martin Uman. A lightning bolt that does not hit the Earth is simply known as a cloud flash.When lightning strikes sand or rock, the extreme heat can fuse minerals beneath the surface into a tube called a fulgurite, also known as petrified lightning, and bears an eerie resemblance to the shape of a tree branch.While lightning strikes are known to carry a strong electrical charge, the temperatures of a storm cloud are so low that it actually turns water vapor into ice.To capture lightning bolts, cameras are not very effective. This is because they occur for a very short period of time and even if a camera is successful in capturing a thunderbolt, they are not capable of capturing bolts inside the clouds but just a general size of it.Did you know that Volcanic eruptions can also cause lightning strikes? When an eruption occurs, materials from inside the Earth are thrown into the air in the form of a giant plume. These particles collide to create an electrical charge which drives the lightning strikes. Cameras are not very effective in capturing lightning bolts, but radar is a good way to measure a lightning bolt since it can send out electromagnetic pulses that reflect it back when it gets struck by metallic objects. The measurement can be calculated according to the time that elapses between the emission of a pulse and when its reflection is received.In the US, Florida is the state that gets struck by lightning bolts very often. It is because of the subtropical climate there as that state is surrounded by ocean on three sides.Positive lightning strikes are known to hit the ground around 25 mi (40 km) away from the center of the lightning storms. But the lightning strikes due to lightning storms are known to kill over 2,000 individuals in a year.On Earth, Venezuela experiences the most number of lightning bolts. Particularly, Lake Maracaibo holds the record for ‘highest concentration of lightning bolts’ as per the Guinness Book Of World Records. On average more than one billion lightning bolts hit the Earth annually.Thunder and lightning occur together. Thunder cannot occur without lightning. This is why it is called a lightning bolt. Also, it is possible to hear thunder from as far as 10 mi (16 km) away from the lightning that caused it.Lightning bolt carries electric charges, but that is not it. A billion volts of electricity can flow through lightning bolts that make it extremely dangerous and destructive and so safety measures should be taken. Lightning bolts kill around 51 people on average in the United States each year. In most parts of the world, the poor are largely affected by lightning bolts.Victims of lightning bolts who luckily survive are badly affected by it and experience changes in their bodies. Mostly a tree-like red branching pattern is left behind on their body where it strikes. It is caused by the electric charge rupturing capillaries beneath the skin and is known as ‘Lichtenberg figures’.There is one more myth that lightning bolts are associated with rain. There is no such thing as dry lightning. Lightning is also one of the major causes of forest fires and wildlife destruction.A study of lightning bolts is known as ‘fulminology’ and a fear of lightning is known as ‘astraphobia’.It might sound strange, but according to the research done by the Met Office, helicopters can cause an isolated lightning strike. It happens when the flying helicopter acquires a negative charge, so if it flies close to an area that is positively charged it can trigger a lightning strike.
Lightning is a natural spark that happens due to the flow of electrical charges and can strike even without rain or a thunderstorm around!
