Thursday, July 20

Lightning and Thunder

So I just had the closest experience with lightning I can remember. A tree got hit directly across the road from my office. Talk about loud. It's amazing how much power is contained in one bolt of lightning. Here's some interesting facts I looked up. Each second there are 50 to 100 Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Strikes to the Earth world-wide

Most lightning strikes average 2 to 3 miles long and carry a current of 10000 Amps at 100 million Volts.

One lightning strike can carry enough electricity to power 10 million homes for one month.

A "Positive Giant" is a lightning strike that hits the ground up to 20 miles away from the storm.Because it seems to strike from a clear sky it is known as "A Bolt From The Blue". These"Positive Giant" flashes strike between the storm's top "anvil" and the Earth and carry several times the destructive energy of a "regular" lightning strike.

Daytime lightning is difficult or impossible to see under local sun and/or hazy conditions. Night-time "heat lightning" can be seen up to 100 miles away (depending on "seeing" conditions).

The temperature of a typical lightning bolt is hotter than the surface of the Sun!

How big around is a typical lightning bolt? Answer: About the size of a Quarter to Half-Dollar! Lightning looks so much wider than it really is just because its light is so bright!

12 comments:

Matthew said...

I knew a guy who was hit by lignting... twice one summer.

daniel said...

So....why don't we harness the power of lightning to run our homes and such. Instead of lightning rods going into the ground, slap a cable to my TV and air conditioning unit. Feed the rest back onto the grid and I'll take the money for it ;)

Luke said...

Dan: In searching out an answer to your question, I came across some conflicting information.

An average stroke can easily release 250 kilowatt-hours of energy, enough to operate a 100-watt light bulb continuously for more than three months. And at 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,032 degrees Fahrenheit), lightning is five or six times hotter than the surface of the sun. All of this energy is contained in a channel about the width of a human thumb. (Why can't we harness his energy for human uses? As powerful as they are, lightning flashes are so brief that their energy pales next to the amount we use in our industrial society, and learning how to collect and direct the lightning energy would be an enormous task.)

250 KwH isn't nearly enough to power 10 million homes for one month. The only explanation I can see for the conflicting reports is that one is describing just the electrical burst energy, while the other one is taking into account all the energy released in the form of heat, radio waves, and electrical energy. I would guess that the majority of the difference is whether or not you count the heat released.

The main technological challenge still remains the extremely brief period of which this energy is released.

Luke said...

Matthew: How'd he fare?

Maggi: Yes, our God is an awesome God. He reigns from Heaven above with power and might. Our God is an awesome God.

My word verification is "split". :)

Matthew said...

He seemed all right, although he was a little odd to begin with.

I once saw a video of people who had been struck, and the last thing one guy remembered was levitating off the ground by about two feet. After the strike some of his memory of just before the hit and afterward was wiped. I think that it is not uncommon to loose memory after a strike. Another kid was listening to his iPod and the cord burned his side and ears. He didn't remember going inside and falling asleep. He later woke up and called 911.

no_average_girl said...

wow, that's so incredible! To think that my Father is the one who controls such a powerful, awesome things just gives me chills!!!

c.l.beyer said...

Fascinating stuff... wow.

dixie said...

i have a cool lightening strike story........it took place when i worked on the farm. i was hauling manure and i pulled the manure spreader into the yard and parked it and later that evening we were sitting in our chairs listening to the storm and we heard this huge crack. the next morning my brother Adam came in and asked what i had done to the manure spreader because the tire rim(?) had blown 50 feet(i am not a good judge of distance) across the yard and the axle(?) was sitting in the rubber tire. he acually spent time pondering how i managed that one, but we figured it was the result of the crack that we heard the night before. it is truly is amazing when you witness something like that. i wish i would have taken a picture, because it was hard to believe even when we did see it. Adam thought I had to be driving too fast when i circled around the yard to park the thing. i loved those days!!

Anyway, Luke congrats on being a great-uncle - that just sounds weird! have a blessed weekend
dixie

Wendi said...

Our tree in front got struck my lightening, which is right by my window!! It was very loud!!

JakeGman said...

Good Stuff!

More good pics on my Blog! :)

Peace,

Jake <><

Luke said...

Jake: If you're going to use my blog to advertise pictures on yours, you don't have to add a generic comment like "good stuff". Just tell people that there are new pics on your blog, and you'd like them to come look. *grin*

jw said...

Janelle had a sweet story to tell at Bible Study involving cows and lightening. Two of their cattle got struck and died. That's the jist of it:) So no, they didn't fair well...