How does lightning occur? What is lightning and why does it occur? Physical and chemical causes of lightning.

Have you ever wondered why birds sit on high voltage wires, and a person who touches the wires dies? Everything is very simple - they sit on a wire, but no current flows through the bird, but if the bird flaps its wing, simultaneously touching two phases, it will die. This is how they usually die big birds such as storks, eagles, falcons.

Likewise, a person can touch a phase and nothing will happen to him if no current flows through him; for this you need to wear rubberized boots and God forbid you touch a wall or metal.

Electric current can kill a person in a split second; it strikes without warning. Lightning strikes the earth one hundred times per second and over eight million times per day. This force of nature is five times hotter than the surface of the sun. The electrical discharge strikes with a force of 300,000 amperes and a million volts in a split second. IN Everyday life we think we can control the electricity that powers our homes, our outdoor lights, and now our cars. But electricity in its original form cannot be controlled. And lightning is electricity on a huge scale. And yet lightning remains a big mystery. It can strike unexpectedly and its path can be unpredictable.

Lightning in the sky does no harm, but one in ten lightning strikes the surface of the earth. Lightning is divided into many branches, each of which is capable of striking a person located at the epicenter. When a person is struck by lightning, the current can pass from one person to another if they come into contact.

There is a rule of thirty and thirty: if you see lightning and hear thunder less than thirty seconds later, you must seek shelter, and then you must wait thirty minutes from the last clap of thunder before going outside. But lightning does not always obey a strict order.

There is such a thing atmospheric phenomenon, like a bolt from the blue. Often lightning, leaving a cloud, travels up to sixteen kilometers before striking the ground. In other words, lightning can appear out of nowhere. Lightning needs wind and water. When strong winds lift wet air, conditions arise for the emergence of destructive thunderstorms.

It is impossible to decompose into components something that fits into a millionth of a second. One false belief is that we see lightning as it travels to the ground, but what we actually see is the lightning's return path into the sky. Lightning is not a unidirectional strike to the ground, but is actually a ring, a path in two directions. The flash of lightning that we see is the so-called return stroke, the final phase of the cycle. And when the return stroke of lightning heats the air, it appears business card- thunder. The return path of lightning is the part of lightning that we see as a flash and hear as thunder. A reverse current of thousands of amperes and millions of volts rushes from the ground to the cloud.

Lightning regularly electrocutes people indoors. It can enter a structure in different ways, through drainpipes and water pipes. Lightning can penetrate electrical wiring whose current strength is an ordinary house does not reach two hundred amperes and overloads the electrical wiring in jumps from twenty thousand to two hundred thousand amperes. Perhaps the most dangerous path in your home leads directly to your hand through the phone. Nearly two-thirds of indoor electric shocks occur when people pick up a landline telephone during a lightning strike. Cordless phones are safer during thunderstorms, but lightning can electrocute someone standing near the phone's base. Even a lightning rod cannot protect you from all lightning, since it is not capable of catching lightning in the sky.

About the nature of lightning

There are several different theories explaining the origin of lightning.

Typically, the bottom of the cloud carries a negative charge and the top carries a positive charge, making the cloud-ground system like a giant capacitor.

When the electrical potential difference becomes large enough, a discharge known as lightning occurs between the ground and the cloud, or between two parts of the cloud.

Is it dangerous to be in a car during lightning?

In one of these experiments, a meter-long artificial lethal lightning was aimed at the steel roof of a car in which a person was sitting. Lightning passed through the casing without harming a person. How did this happen? Since charges on a charged object repel each other, they tend to move as far apart as possible.

In the case of a hollow mechanical ball pi cylinder, the charges are distributed over the outer surface of the object. Similarly, if lightning strikes the metal roof of a car, then the repelling electrons will spread extremely quickly over the surface of the car and go through its body into the ground. Therefore, lightning along the surface of a metal car goes into the ground and does not get inside the car. For the same reason, a metal cage is perfect protection against lightning. As a result of artificial lightning striking a car with a voltage of 3 million volts, the potential of the car and the body of the person in it increases to almost 200 thousand volts. At the same time, a person does not experience the slightest sign of an electric shock, since there is no potential difference between any points of his body.

This means that staying in a well-grounded building with a metal frame, of which there are many in modern cities, almost completely protects against lightning.

How can we explain that birds sit on the wires completely calmly and with impunity?

The body of a sitting bird is like a branch of a chain ( parallel connection). The resistance of this branch with the bird is much greater than the resistance of the wire between the bird's legs. Therefore, the current strength in the bird’s body is negligible. If a bird, sitting on a wire, touched the pole with its wing or tail, or otherwise connected with the ground, it would be instantly killed by the current that would rush through it into the ground.

Interesting facts about lightning

Average length lightning 2.5 km. Some discharges extend up to 20 km in the atmosphere.

Lightning is beneficial: they manage to snatch millions of tons of nitrogen from the air, bind it and send it into the ground, fertilizing the soil.

Saturn's lightning is a million times stronger than Earth's.

A lightning discharge usually consists of three or more repeated discharges - pulses following the same path. The intervals between successive pulses are very short, from 1/100 to 1/10 s (this is what causes lightning to flicker).

About 700 lightning flashes on Earth every second. World centers of thunderstorms: Java island - 220, equatorial Africa- 150, southern Mexico - 142, Panama - 132, central Brazil - 106 thunderstorm days per year. Russia: Murmansk - 5, Arkhangelsk - 10, St. Petersburg - 15, Moscow - 20 thunderstorm days a year.

The air in the zone of the lightning channel almost instantly heats up to a temperature of 30,000-33,000 ° C. On average, about 3,000 people die from lightning strikes in the world every year

Statistics show that every 5,000-10,000 flight hours there is one lightning strike on an aircraft; fortunately, almost all damaged aircraft continue to fly.

Despite the crushing power of lightning, protecting yourself from it is quite simple. During a thunderstorm, you should immediately leave open areas, under no circumstances should you hide under isolated trees, or be near high masts and power lines. You should not hold steel objects in your hands. Also, during thunderstorms, you cannot use radio communications, mobile phones. Televisions, radios and electrical appliances must be turned off indoors.

Lightning rods protect buildings from lightning damage for two reasons: they allow the charge induced on the building to flow into the air, and when lightning strikes the building, they take it into the ground.

If you find yourself in a thunderstorm, you should avoid taking shelter near single trees, hedges, high places and be in open spaces.

We often think that electricity is something that is generated only in power plants, and certainly not in the fibrous masses of water clouds, which are so rarefied that you can easily stick your hand into them. However, there is electricity in the clouds, just as there is even in the human body.

The nature of electricity

All bodies are made of atoms - from clouds and trees to the human body. Every atom has a nucleus containing positively charged protons and neutral neutrons. The exception is the simplest hydrogen atom, in the nucleus of which there is no neutron, but only one proton.

Negatively charged electrons circulate around the nucleus. Positive and negative charges attract each other, so electrons revolve around the nucleus of an atom, like bees around a sweet pie. The attraction between protons and electrons is due to electromagnetic forces. Therefore, electricity is present everywhere we look. As we see, it is also contained in atoms.

IN normal conditions the positive and negative charges of each atom balance each other, so bodies consisting of atoms usually do not carry any net charge - neither positive nor negative. As a result, contact with other objects does not cause an electrical discharge. But sometimes the balance of electrical charges in bodies can be disrupted. You may experience this yourself while at home on a cold winter day. The house is very dry and hot. You shuffling bare feet, walk along the palace. Unbeknownst to you, some of the electrons from your soles transferred to the atoms of the carpet.

Related materials:

A little about the weather

Now you are carrying an electrical charge because the number of protons and electrons in your atoms is no longer balanced. Now try to grab the metal door handle. A spark will jump between you and her and you will feel an electric shock. What has happened is that your body, which does not have enough electrons to achieve electrical balance, seeks to restore balance through the forces of electromagnetic attraction. And it is restored. Between the hand and the door handle there is a flow of electrons directed towards the hand. If the room was dark, you would see sparks. Light is visible because electrons, when they jump, emit quanta of light. If the room is quiet, you will hear a slight crackling sound.

Electricity surrounds us everywhere and is contained in all bodies. Clouds in this sense are no exception. On the background blue sky they look very harmless. But just like you in the room, they can carry an electrical charge. If so, beware! When the cloud restores the electrical balance within itself, a whole fireworks display breaks out.

Related materials:

Why are lightning bolts different colors?

How does lightning appear?

Here's what happens: powerful air currents constantly circulate in a dark, huge thundercloud, pushing various particles together - grains of ocean salt, dust, and so on. Just as your soles, when rubbed against a carpet, are freed from electrons, particles in a cloud, when they collide, are freed from electrons, which jump to other particles. This is how charge redistribution occurs. Some particles that have lost their electrons have a positive charge, while others that have taken on extra electrons now have a negative charge.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, heavier particles become negatively charged, while lighter particles become positively charged. Thus, the heavier lower part of the cloud becomes negatively charged. The negatively charged lower part of the cloud pushes electrons towards the ground, as like charges repel each other. Thus, a positively charged part is formed under the cloud earth's surface. Then, according to exactly the same principle that a spark jumps between you and the doorknob, the same spark will jump between the cloud and the ground, only very large and powerful - this is lightning. The electrons fly in a giant zigzag towards the ground, finding their protons there. Instead of a barely audible crackling sound, swipe thunder

"physical phenomenon"

A giant electrical spark discharge in the atmosphere, usually manifested by a bright flash of light and accompanying thunder. The electrical nature of lightning was revealed in the research of the American physicist B. Franklin, on whose idea an experiment was carried out to extract electricity from a thundercloud.

Most often, lightning occurs in cumulonimbus clouds, then they are called thunderstorms; Sometimes lightning forms in nimbostratus clouds, as well as when volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and dust storms.

The development process of ground lightning consists of several stages. At the first stage, in the zone where the electric field reaches a critical value, impact ionization begins, initially created by free electrons, always present in small quantities in the air, which, under the influence of electric field acquire significant speeds towards the ground and, colliding with air atoms, ionize them. That. electron avalanches occur, turning into filaments electrical discharges- streamers, which are well-conducting channels, which, merging, give rise to a bright thermally ionized channel with high conductivity - a stepped leader.

The movement of the leader towards the earth's surface occurs in steps of several tens of meters at a speed of ~ 5 * 10000000 m/sec, after which its movement stops for several tens of microseconds, and the glow greatly weakens; then, in the next stage, the leader again advances several tens of meters. A bright glow covers all the steps passed; then a stop and weakening of the glow follows again. These processes are repeated when the leader moves to the surface of the earth from average speed 2*100000 m/sec. As the leader moves toward the ground, the field intensity at its end increases and under its action, a response streamer is ejected from objects protruding on the surface of the Earth, connecting to the leader.

Shapes of lightning

Linear lightning

A linear lightning discharge occurs between clouds, inside a cloud, or between a cloud and the ground, and usually has a length of about 2-3 km, but there are lightning up to 20-30 km long.

It looks like a broken line, often with numerous branches. Lightning color - white, yellow, blue or reddish

Most often, the diameter of the thread of such lightning reaches a couple of tens of centimeters. This type is the most common; we see him most often. Linear lightning appears when the atmospheric electric field voltage is up to 50 kV/m; the potential difference along its path can reach hundreds of millions of volts. The current strength of this kind of lightning is about 10 thousand amperes. A thundercloud that produces linear lightning every 20 seconds has an electrical energy of 20 million kW. Potential Electric Energy The energy stored in such a cloud is equal to the energy of a megaton bomb.

This is the most common form of lightning.

Flat zipper

Flat lightning appears as a diffuse flash of light on the surface of clouds. Thunderstorms accompanied only by flat lightning are classified as weak, and they are usually observed only in early spring or late autumn.

Tape zipper

Ribbon lightning is several identical zigzag discharges from clouds to ground, parallel shifted relative to each other with small intervals or without them.

Beaded lightning

A rare form of electrical discharge during a thunderstorm, in the form of a chain of luminous points.The lifetime of beaded lightning is 1–2 seconds. It is noteworthy that the trajectory of beaded lightning often has a wave-like character. Unlike linear lightning, the trace of beaded lightning does not branch - this is distinctive feature this kind.

Rocket Lightning

Rocket-shaped lightning is a slowly developing discharge lasting 1–1.5 seconds. Rocket lightning is observed very rarely.

Ball lightning

Ball lightning is a bright luminous electric charge varying in color and size. Near the ground, it most often looks like a ball with a diameter of about 10 cm, less often it has the shape of an ellipsoid, drop, disk, ring, or even a chain of connected balls. The duration of existence of ball lightning is from several seconds to several minutes, the color of the glow is white, yellow, light blue, red or orange. Typically this type of lightning moves slowly, almost silently, accompanied only by a slight crackling, whistling, buzzing or hissing sound. Ball lightning can enter enclosed spaces through cracks, pipes, and windows.

A rare form of lightning; according to statistics, there are 2-3 ball lightnings per thousand ordinary lightnings.

The nature of ball lightning is not fully understood. There are many hypotheses about the origin of ball lightning, from scientific to fantastic.

Curtain zipper

Curtain lightning looks like a wide vertical strip of light, accompanied by a low, quiet hum.

Volumetric zipper

Volumetric lightning - a white or reddish flash in low translucent clouds, with strong sound cod “from everywhere”. More often observed before the main phase of a thunderstorm.

Strip lightning

Strip lightning - strongly reminiscent Polar Lights, “laid on its side” - horizontal stripes of light (3-4 stripes) are grouped one above the other.

Elves, jets and sprites

Elves (Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations from Electromagnetic Pulse Sources) are huge but faintly luminous flash cones with a diameter of about 400 km, which appear directly from the top of a thundercloud.

Jets are blue cone tubes.

Sprites are a kind of lightning striking upward from a cloud. This phenomenon was first recorded in 1989 by accident. Now about physical nature Very few sprites are known.

Jets and Elves form from the tops of the clouds to the lower edge of the ionosphere (90 kilometers above the Earth's surface). The duration of these aurora is a fraction of a second. To photograph such short-lived phenomena, high-speed imaging instruments are needed. Only in 1994, flying in an airplane over a large thunderstorm, scientists managed to film this stunning spectacle.

Other phenomena

Flashes

Flashes are white or blue silent flashes of light observed at night in partly cloudy or clear weather. Flashes usually occur in the second half of summer.

Lightning

Lightning flashes are reflections of distant high thunderstorms; at night they are visible at a distance of up to 150 - 200 km. The sound of thunder cannot be heard during lightning, the sky is partly cloudy.

Volcanic lightning

There are two types of volcanic lightning. One occurs at the crater of a volcano, and the other, as seen in this photo of Puyehue Volcano in Chile, electrifies the volcano's smoke. The water and frozen ash particles in the smoke rub against each other, causing static discharge and volcanic lightning.

Catatumbo Lightning

Catatumbo lightning is an amazing phenomenon that is observed only in one place on our planet - at the confluence of the Catatumbo River into Lake Maracaibo ( South America). The most amazing thing about this type of lightning is that its discharges last about 10 hours and appear at night 140–160 times a year. Catatumbo lightning is clearly visible at a fairly large distance - 400 kilometers. Lightning of this kind was often used as a compass, which is why people even nicknamed the place where they were observed - “Maracaibo Lighthouse”.

Most say that Catatumbo lightning is the largest single ozone generator on Earth, because... winds coming from the Andes cause thunderstorms. Methane, which is rich in the atmosphere of these wetlands, rises to the clouds, fueling lightning strikes.

Municipal educational institution

Gymnasium "Laboratory of Salakhov"

Creative work in physics

on the topic: Electrical phenomena in nature: lightning

Story

The electrical nature of lightning was revealed in the research of the American physicist B. Franklin, on whose idea an experiment was carried out to extract electricity from a thundercloud. Franklin's experience in elucidating the electrical nature of lightning is widely known. In 1750, he published a work that described an experiment using a kite launched into a thunderstorm. Franklin's experience was described in the work of Joseph Priestley.

Physical properties of lightning

The average length of lightning is 2.5 km, some discharges extend up to 20 km in the atmosphere.

Lightning Formation

Most often, lightning occurs in cumulonimbus clouds, then they are called thunderstorms; Lightning sometimes forms in nimbostratus clouds, as well as during volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and dust storms.

Usually observed linear zippers, which belong to the so-called electrodeless discharges, since they begin (and end) in accumulations of charged particles. This determines their some still unexplained properties that distinguish lightning from discharges between electrodes. Thus, lightning does not occur shorter than several hundred meters; they arise in electric fields much weaker than the fields during interelectrode discharges; The collection of charges carried by lightning occurs in thousandths of a second from billions of small particles, well isolated from each other, located in a volume of several km³. The most studied process of lightning development in thunderclouds, while lightning can pass in the clouds themselves - intracloud lightning, or can strike the ground - ground lightning. For lightning to occur, it is necessary that in a relatively small (but not less than a certain critical) volume of the cloud, an electric field with a strength sufficient to initiate an electrical discharge (~ 1 MV/m) is formed, and in a significant part of the cloud there is a field with an average strength sufficient to maintain the started discharge (~ 0.1-0.2 MV/m). In lightning, the electrical energy of the cloud is converted into heat and light.

Ground lightning

The development process of ground lightning consists of several stages. At the first stage, in the zone where the electric field reaches a critical value, impact ionization begins, created initially by free electrons, always present in small quantities in the air, which, under the influence of the electric field, acquire significant speeds towards the ground and, colliding with the molecules that make up air, ionize them. For more modern ideas, the discharge is initiated by high-energy cosmic rays, which trigger a process called runaway breakdown. Thus, electron avalanches arise, turning into threads of electrical discharges - streamers, which are well-conducting channels, which, merging, give rise to a bright thermally ionized channel with high conductivity - a stepped lightning leader.

The movement of the leader towards the earth's surface occurs in steps of several tens of meters at a speed of ~ 50,000 kilometers per second, after which its movement stops for several tens of microseconds, and the glow greatly weakens; then, in the subsequent stage, the leader again advances several tens of meters. A bright glow covers all the steps passed; then a stop and weakening of the glow follows again. These processes are repeated as the leader moves to the surface of the earth at an average speed of 200,000 meters per second.

As the leader moves toward the ground, the field intensity at its end increases and under its action, a response streamer is ejected from objects protruding on the surface of the Earth, connecting to the leader. This feature of lightning is used to create a lightning rod.

In the final stage, a reverse (from bottom to top), or main, lightning discharge follows along the channel ionized by the leader, characterized by currents from tens to hundreds of thousands of amperes, a brightness noticeably exceeding the brightness of the leader, and a high speed of progress, initially reaching ~ 100,000 kilometers per second , and at the end decreasing to ~ 10,000 kilometers per second. The channel temperature during the main discharge can exceed 25,000 °C. The length of the lightning channel can be from 1 to 10 km, the diameter can be several centimeters. After the passage of the current pulse, the ionization of the channel and its glow weaken. In the final stage, the lightning current can last hundredths and even tenths of a second, reaching hundreds and thousands of amperes. Such lightning is called prolonged lightning and most often causes fires.

The main discharge often discharges only part of the cloud. Charges located on high altitudes, can give rise to a new (arrow-shaped) leader moving continuously at speeds of thousands of kilometers per second. The brightness of its glow is close to the brightness of the stepped leader. When the arrow-shaped leader reaches the surface of the earth, the second follows main blow, similar to the first one. Typically, lightning includes several repeated discharges, but their number can reach several dozen. The duration of multiple lightning can exceed 1 second. The displacement of the channel of multiple lightning by the wind creates the so-called ribbon lightning - a luminous strip.

Intracloud lightning

Intracloud lightning usually includes only leader stages; their length ranges from 1 to 150 km. The share of intracloud lightning increases with displacement towards the equator, varying from 0.5 V temperate latitudes up to 0.9 in the equatorial strip. The passage of lightning is accompanied by changes in electric and magnetic fields and radio emissions, the so-called atmospherics. The probability of a ground object being struck by lightning increases as its height increases and with an increase in the electrical conductivity of the soil on the surface or at some depth (the action of a lightning rod is based on these factors). If there is an electric field in the cloud that is sufficient to maintain a discharge, but not sufficient to cause it to occur, a long metal cable or an airplane can act as the lightning initiator - especially if it is highly electrically charged. In this way, lightning is sometimes “provoked” in nimbostratus and powerful cumulus clouds.

“Every second, about 50 lightning strikes the surface of the earth, and on average, every square kilometer is struck by lightning six times a year.”

The most powerful lightning strikes cause the birth of fulgurites.

People and lightning

Lightning is a serious threat to human life. A person or animal being struck by lightning often occurs in open spaces because... The electric current follows the shortest path "thundercloud-ground". Often lightning strikes trees and transformer installations on the railway, causing them to catch fire. It is impossible to be struck by ordinary linear lightning inside a building, but there is an opinion that so-called ball lightning can penetrate through cracks and open windows. A normal lightning discharge is dangerous for television and radio antennas located on the roofs of high-rise buildings, as well as for network equipment.

The same pathological changes are observed in the body of victims as in case of electric shock. The victim loses consciousness, falls, convulsions may occur, and breathing and heartbeat often stop. It is common to find “current marks” on the body, where electricity enters and exits. In case of death, the cause of cessation of basic vital functions is a sudden stop of breathing and heartbeat, from the direct effect of lightning on the respiratory and vasomotor centers of the medulla oblongata. So-called lightning marks, tree-like light pink or red stripes often remain on the skin, disappearing when pressed with fingers (they persist for 1 - 2 days after death). They are the result of the expansion of capillaries in the area of ​​lightning contact with the body.

When struck by lightning, the first health care must be urgent. In severe cases (stopping breathing and heartbeat), resuscitation is necessary, it should be provided without waiting medical workers, any witness to misfortune. Resuscitation is effective only in the first minutes after a lightning strike; starting after 10 - 15 minutes, it is, as a rule, no longer effective. Emergency hospitalization is necessary in all cases.

Victims of lightning

1. In mythology and literature:

1. Asclepius, Aesculapius - the son of Apollo - the god of doctors and medical art, not only healed, but also revived the dead. To restore the broken world order, Zeus struck him with his lightning.

2. Phaeton - the son of the sun god Helios - once took to driving his father’s solar chariot, but could not restrain the fire-breathing horses and almost destroyed the Earth in a terrible flame. An angry Zeus pierced Phaeton with lightning.

2. Historical figures:

1. Russian academician G.V. Richman - died in 1753 from a lightning strike.

2. People's Deputy of Ukraine, ex-governor of the Rivne region V. Chervoniy died from a lightning strike on July 4, 2009.

· Roy Sullivan survived after being struck by lightning seven times.

· American Major Summerford died after a long illness (the result of being struck by the third lightning). The fourth lightning completely destroyed his monument in the cemetery.

· Among the Andean Indians, a lightning strike is considered necessary to achieve higher levels shamanic initiation.

Trees and lightning

Trunk of lightning-struck poplar

Tall trees are frequent targets for lightning. You can easily find multiple lightning scars on long-lived relict trees. A single standing tree is thought to be more likely to be struck by lightning, although in some forested areas lightning scars can be seen on almost every tree. Dry trees catch fire when struck by lightning. Most often, lightning strikes are directed at oak, least often - at beech, which apparently depends on the different amounts of fatty oils in them, which represent great resistance to electricity.

Lightning passes through a tree trunk along the path of the smallest electrical resistance, with emphasis large quantity heat, turning water into steam, which splits the tree trunk or, more often, tears off sections of bark from it, showing the path of lightning. In subsequent seasons, the trees usually repair the damaged tissue and may close the entire wound, leaving only a vertical scar. If the damage is too severe, wind and pests will eventually kill the tree. Trees are natural lightning conductors and are known to provide protection from lightning strikes to nearby buildings. When planted near a building, tall trees catch lightning, and the high biomass of the root system helps ground the lightning strike.

Trees struck by lightning are used to make musical instruments, attributing to them unique properties.

The clouds spread their wings and blocked the sun from us...

Why do we sometimes hear thunder and see lightning when it rains? Where do these outbreaks come from? Now we will tell you about this in detail.

What is lightning?

What is lightning? This is amazing and very mysterious phenomenon nature. It almost always happens during a thunderstorm. Some are amazed, some are frightened. Poets write about lightning, scientists study this phenomenon. But much remains unsolved.

One thing is certain - it is a giant spark. It's like a billion light bulbs exploded! Its length is enormous - several hundred kilometers! And she is very far from us. That is why we see it first, and only then hear it. Thunder is the “voice” of lightning. After all, light reaches us faster than sound.

And lightning also happens on other planets. For example, on Mars or Venus. Normal lightning lasts only a fraction of a second. It consists of several categories. Lightning sometimes appears quite unexpectedly.

How is lightning formed?

Lightning is usually born in a thundercloud, high above the ground. Thunderclouds appear when the air begins to become very hot. That's why after extreme heat There are amazing thunderstorms. Billions of charged particles literally fly to the place where it originates. And when there are very, very many of them, they burst into flames. That's where lightning comes from - from a thundercloud. She can hit the ground. The earth attracts her. But it can also explode in the cloud itself. It all depends on what kind of lightning it is.

What types of lightning are there?

There are different types of lightning. And you need to know about this. This is not just a “ribbon” in the sky. All these “ribbons” are different from each other.

Lightning is always a strike, it is always a discharge between something. There are more than ten of them! For now, let’s name only the most basic ones, attaching pictures of lightning to them:

• Between thundercloud and earth. These are the same “ribbons” that we are used to.

Between tall tree and clouds. The same “ribbon”, but the blow is directed in the other direction.

Ribbon zipper - when there is not one “ribbon”, but several in parallel.

• Between cloud and cloud, or simply “played out” in one cloud. This type of lightning can often be seen during a thunderstorm. You just need to be careful.

• There are also horizontal lightning that do not touch the ground at all. They are endowed with colossal strength and are considered the most dangerous

• And everyone has heard about ball lightning! Only a few have seen them. There are even fewer who would like to see them. And there are also people who do not believe in their existence. But ball lightning exists! It is difficult to photograph such lightning. It explodes quickly, although it can “take a walk”, but it’s better for the person next to it not to move - it’s dangerous. So there’s no time for a camera here.

• View of lightning with very beautiful name- "St. Elmo's Fire." But it's not exactly lightning. This is the glow that appears at the end of a thunderstorm on pointed buildings, lanterns, and ship masts. Also a spark, but not fading and not dangerous. St. Elmo's Fire is very beautiful.

• Volcanic lightning occurs when a volcano erupts. The volcano itself already has a charge. This is probably what causes lightning.

• Sprite lightning is something that you cannot see from Earth. They appear above the clouds and few people are studying them yet. These lightning bolts look like jellyfish.

• The dotted lightning has hardly been studied. It can be seen extremely rarely. Visually, it really looks like a dotted line - as if a lightning ribbon is melting.

These are the different kinds of lightning. There is only one law for them - electric discharge.

Conclusion.

Even in ancient times, lightning was considered both a sign and the wrath of the Gods. She was a mystery before and remains one now. No matter how they break it down into the smallest atoms and molecules! And it’s always incredibly beautiful!