Bowed before its powerful presence, human beings fall mesmerized by the unexpected formation of lightning that crosses the sky. Somehow, we expect some mystical figure to emerge from the force of its ramifications, but it doesn’t. In ancient times it was believed that this could be an explanation for such a discharge of energy. However, today thanks to science, we know how lightning is formed and what is hidden behind the energy of the Earth.
What is lightning and how is it produced?
According to NASA, lightning is a natural phenomenon caused by electrical discharges between the positive and negative regions of a storm. The Earth and its atmosphere work like a gigantic electrical circuit, the clouds are electrically charged with positive and negative charges. These in turn interact with their environment when a thunderstorm occurs. They end up discharging shock waves that we see in the form of rays that expand through regions of the celestial vault.
How is lightning formed?
Within a storm cloud there are millions of ice crystals that collide with each other, these constant collisions cause the separation of electrical charges. Thus, the positive charges represented by the protons are housed in the upper part of the cloud. In turn, the negative charges, that is, the electrons, move towards the bottom of the cluster.
But when it comes to electromagnetic polarities, it must be remembered that opposites attract and while negative charges are lodged in the lower parts of clouds in the clouds, electromagnetic charges are also constantly brewing on the ground. In the ground, positively charged protons are concentrated in almost anything, it can be in the mountains, trees and even from people. When the charge is strong enough to attract its negative opposite in the clouds, then electrical discharge occurs and the gigantic lightning bolts we often see in thunderstorms are formed.
Although it also often happens that lightning strikes from cloud to cloud. In other words, instead of their charges interacting with the earth’s surface, they do so between the same clusters of cloud formations. This is how lightning is formed.
What is the difference between lightning and lightning?
Lightning is called the phenomenon of electric discharge, while lightning is the consequence that we visually perceive of such discharge. The latter are the lights we see in the sky when an electrical storm occurs and are produced by the flash of electrical charges.
But these natural phenomena are also accompanied by another very peculiar thing called thunder. Lightning has so much contained energy that it has the power to heat the region where it occurs very quickly, it can reach up to 30,000 °C. The hot air expands, that is, it increases in volume and expands, but when it comes into contact with the cold air that surrounds the atmosphere, it contracts again very quickly. This dramatic temperature difference, causing the air to expand and contract, produces shock waves that we perceive as the characteristic deafening clap of thunder that accompanies lightning.
Although it should be noted that they reach us with a time difference, we first observed the explosion and seconds later, we heard the thunder. This is because light is the fastest object in the entire Universe, it travels to us faster than sound, which has a slower travel speed.
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