Lightning... Nature’s Fireworks

The action of rising and descending air within a thunderstorm separates positive and negative charges. Water and ice particles also affect the distribution of electrical charge. Lightning results from the buildup and

discharge of electrical energy between positively and negatively charged areas. The average flash could light a 100-watt light bulb for more than 3 months. Most lightning occurs within the cloud or between the cloud and ground. The air in a lightning bolt is 50,000 F - five times hotter than the surface of the sun! The rapid heating of air in the lightning channel causes a shock wave that results in thunder.

Which way does lightning travel? A cloud to ground lightning strike begins as an invisible channel of electrically charged air moving from the cloud toward the ground. When a channel nears an object on the ground, a powerful surge of electricity from the ground moves upward to the cloud and produces the visible lightning strike.