Lightning accompanies thunderstorms because they are caused by intense electrical discharges between clouds and between a cloud and the ground, triggered by air movements and ice particles that generate different electrical charges.
Thunderstorm clouds form when warm, moist air rises rapidly into the atmosphere. As it rises, this air cools, forming water droplets and ice crystals that constantly collide with each other. During these impacts, some particles exchange electric charges: the smaller, lighter particles generally become positively charged and rise to the top of the cloud, while the larger, heavier particles gather negative charges and descend toward the base. It is this continuous and chaotic process that gradually creates areas of opposite charges within the same large cloud.
When water, ice, or hail particles mixed in a cloud collide, they exchange electrons. The larger particles, often negatively charged, then descend to the bottom of the cloud due to their weight. Conversely, the smaller particles, positively charged, rise to the top with the warm air currents. This separation creates two zones: one at the top of the cloud primarily carrying positive charges, and one at the bottom mostly holding negative charges. This charge distribution is crucial: the greater and more concentrated the charges are, the more intense the electric field becomes, ultimately leading to a big electric flash that you know as lightning.
In the storm cloud, the accumulation of negative charges at the bottom becomes so significant that it ultimately seeks to connect with the ground or another positively charged part of the cloud. Air is normally insulating, but when the electrical tension becomes too strong, it breaks suddenly, creating a conductive channel called a plasma channel. This channel forms in stages: first, a discreet descent from the cloud to the ground, known as a descending leader, and then, as it gets close enough, a small discharge rapidly rises from the ground to meet it. As soon as these two channels make contact, the main discharge occurs instantly with an ultra-bright flash, the famous lightning you observe. All of this lasts only a few milliseconds, but it's enough to heat the air to over 30,000 degrees Celsius, which also causes thunder.
Atmospheric conditions such as temperature, humidity, or air pressure have a significant influence on the formation of lightning. For example, a warm and humid atmosphere strongly favors thunderstorms, as it allows ascending air currents to rise high, intensifying the mixing of electrical charges in the cloud. Conversely, when the air is dry and stable, there is much less vertical movement, thus reducing the chances of witnessing this spectacular electrical phenomenon. Wind also plays a key role. Strong winds or rapidly changing speed or direction, known as wind shear, can enhance vertical currents and make the storm even more intense, producing more frequent or more powerful lightning strikes. Finally, the presence of particles in the air (such as dust or pollutants) can influence where and how these lightning strikes will form.
Lightning often strikes the ground when the accumulation of electrical charges between the clouds and the earth becomes too strong. Lightning always seeks the easiest path to discharge its energy: an isolated tree or a tall building thus becomes an ideal target. The taller and pointier an object is, the more easily it concentrates electrical charges, thereby increasing its risk of being struck. Once it touches the ground or an object, a huge amount of energy is released violently, potentially causing burns, fires, or significant material damage. That’s why we install lightning rods that attract lightning during a storm and guide the electricity directly into the ground, thus preventing buildings from sustaining heavy damage.
Lightning is capable of creating specific geological formations called fulgurites, which are natural glass tubes formed when sand or rock melts due to the intense heat of the lightning strike.
The Catatumbo Lightning in Venezuela is an area where an average of more than 250 thunderstorm nights occur each year, producing about 1.2 million lightning strikes annually.
Every second, about 100 lightning strikes hit the surface of the Earth worldwide, generating a significant total amount of energy.
The sound of thunder comes from the rapid expansion of air that is abruptly heated by the lightning, resulting in a very powerful sound wave.
The temperature of a lightning bolt can reach around 30,000 °C, which is about five times the temperature at the surface of the Sun. This extreme heat causes a rapid expansion of the air, resulting in the shock wave perceived as thunder.
Currently, there is no technically and economically viable method for effectively capturing and storing the energy from lightning. Although each lightning strike contains a vast amount of energy, the unpredictable, extremely powerful, and brief nature of the phenomenon makes its recovery difficult to achieve with current technologies.
Yes, contrary to popular belief, lightning can indeed strike the same place multiple times. Certain locations, such as high points or sharp structures (antennas, skyscrapers, isolated trees), are particularly likely to be struck repeatedly due to conditions that facilitate electrical discharges.
The use of a mobile phone indoors during a thunderstorm generally poses no particular danger. However, if you are outside during a storm, it is advisable not to handle your phone or any other metallic or electronic objects. This is not due to the phone itself, but because being exposed in an open space increases the risk of being struck by lightning.
Light travels much faster than sound. We see the lightning immediately, while the sound (thunder) reaches us with a delay, proportional to the distance from where the lightning occurs. By counting the time between the lightning and the thunder, we can estimate the distance of the phenomenon. Generally, every interval of 3 seconds corresponds to about 1 kilometer.
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