Lightning is a discharge of electricity . A single stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000°C (54,000°F)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand explosively fast. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, known as thunder.
What exactly is lightning?
Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds , the air, or the ground. ... When the opposite charges build up enough, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we know as lightning.
How is lightning caused?
Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground , or within the clouds themselves. Most lightning occurs within the clouds. ... This heat causes surrounding air to rapidly expand and vibrate, which creates the pealing thunder we hear a short time after seeing a lightning flash.
What is lightning in very short answer?
Lightning is a very powerful electrical discharge made during a thunderstorm . The electric current makes the air very hot. The suddenly heated air expands very quickly, which causes thunder. Sometimes lightning happens between clouds. ... If it goes from cloud to ground, it can strike a person.
How do you explain lightning to a child?
Explain to your child that lightning is really electricity . When the clouds get full of electricity from the collision of the ice and water particles, the electricity moves from the cloud to the ground below or to another cloud. This movement causes a bright jagged flash of light.
Can you watch TV while its lightning?
It isn't dangerous to watch TV during a thunderstorm , but the electronics in a TV set are vulnerable. If you have to make a telephone call, use a mobile phone detached from its cable rather than a landline device. Over-voltages resulting from a lightning strike may follow electrical conductors into the handset.
Is lightning hotter than the sun?
Air is a very poor conductor of electricity and gets extremely hot when lightning passes through it. In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit ( 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun ).
What are the 3 types of lightning?
There are three common types of lightning: cloud to ground, cloud to cloud and cloud to air . Cloud to ground lightning is the most dangerous. The ground is mainly consisted of positively charged particles while the bottom of violent storm clouds have negative charged particles.
How do you attract lightning?
Myth: Structures with metal, or metal on the body (jewelry, cell phones,Mp3 players, watches, etc), attract lightning. Fact: Height, pointy shape, and isolation are the dominant factors controlling where a lightning bolt will strike. The presence of metal makes absolutely no difference on where lightning strikes.
Can lightning go through a house?
Lightning has the ability to strike a house or near a house and impart an electrical charge to the metal pipes used for plumbing. ... Lightning is a very dangerous force that, yes, can even reach you indoors if you're in contact with the telephone or plumbing.
What are the 4 types of lightning?
- Cloud-to-Ground (CG) Lightning.
- Negative Cloud-to-Ground Lightning (-CG) ...
- Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning (+CG) ...
- Cloud-to-Air (CA) Lightning. ...
- Ground-to-Cloud (GC) Lightning. ...
- Intracloud (IC) Lightning.
What is the 30 30 Rule of lightning?
When You See Lightning, Count The Time Until You Hear Thunder. If That Is 30 Seconds Or Less, The Thunderstorm Is Close Enough To Be Dangerous – Seek Shelter (if you can't see the lightning, just hearing the thunder is a good back-up rule). Wait 30 Minutes Or More After The Lightning Flash Before Leaving Shelter.
What part of lightning do we see?
Does lightning strike from the sky down, or the ground up ? The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity (that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts.
What is thunder in simple words?
Thunder is a very loud sound that is made sometimes during a very big rain storm. ... It can sound like a boom, a crash, or a rumble. Thunder is made when lightning strikes. The energy from the lightning heats up the air so much that it makes a kind of explosion.
Is thunder a sonic boom?
Thunder is the acoustic shock wave resulting from the extreme heat generated by a lightning flash. ... This is where air expands so rapidly that it compresses the air in front of it, forming a shock wave similar to a sonic boom . Exploding fireworks produce a similar result.
