ย FACTS ABOUT LIGHTNING
WHAT IS LIGHTNING?
Lightning is a bright flash of electricity produced by a thunderstorm. All thunderstorms produce lightning and are very dangerous. If you hear the sound of thunder, then you are in danger from lightning. Lightning kills and injures more people each year than hurricanes or tornadoes; between 75 to 100 people.
WHAT CAUSES LIGHTNING?
Lightning is an electric current. Within a thundercloud way up in the sky, many small bits of ice (frozen raindrops) bump into each other as they move around in the air. All of those collisions create an electric charge. After a while, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges. The positive charges or protons form at the top of the cloud and the negative charges or electrons form at the bottom of the cloud. Since opposites attract, that causes a positive charge to build up on the ground beneath the cloud. The grounds electrical charge concentrates around anything that sticks up, such as mountains, people, or single trees. The charge coming up from these points eventually connects with a charge reaching down from the clouds and – zap – lightning strikes!
HOW DOES A LIGHTNING FORM?
Have you ever rubbed your feet across carpet and then touched a metal door handle? If so, then you know that you can get shocked! Lightning works in the same way. Itยดs calledย Static Electricity.ย
HOW HOT IS A LIGHTNING BOLT?
Lightning is approximately 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That is six times hotter than the surface of the sun!
WHAT COLOR IS LIGHTNING?
Lightning seems to be clear or a white-yellow color, but it really depends on the background.
WHAT CAUSES THUNDER?
Thunder is caused by lightning. When a lightning bolt travels from the cloud to the ground it actually opens up a little hole in the air, called a channel. Once then light is gone the air collapses back in and creates a sound wave that we hear as thunder. The reason we see lightning before we hear thunder is because Light and sound are very different. Sound is actually a mechanical disturbance through air or another medium. Sound always needs a medium to travel through and the type of medium determines its speed.
Imagine a bunch of molecules bouncing around in the air. If you hit an object or make a fast motion, the molecules that you push are going to hit the ones in front of it. Youโll get this disturbance in the direction of travel of however you made the initial motion, and it will move through the medium. Thatโs how sound travelsโas a pressure wave.
Light, on the other hand, is not a pressure waveโitโs a fundamental particle. One ray of light is typically called a photon, and itโs an electromagnetic disturbance. Light doesnโt need a medium to travel.
The speed of sound through air is about 340 meters per second. Itโs faster through water and itโs even faster through steel. Light will travel through a vacuum at 300 million meters per second. So theyโre totally different scales.
No information can propagate faster than the speed of light. If you have light thatโs going through a media, it can travel slower than that. But the speed of sound and speed of light are totally incomparable.
You normally donโt notice this speed difference on a day-to-day basis. This speed difference does become apparent, for example, with lightning. Youโll always see lightning before you hear it, because typically lightning will be a mile away, two miles away. Thatโs a great enough distance that that speed difference becomes apparent to your brain.ย
HOWEVER…
In 1998, Danish physicist Lene Vestergaard Hau led a combined team from Harvard University and the Rowland Institute for Science which succeeded in slowing a beam of light to about 17 meters per second.ย
Hau and her colleagues later in 2001 succeeded in stopping light (passing through Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC)) completely, and developed methods by which it can be stopped (read as zero m/s speed) and later restarted.
Against this speed of sound in BEC is 0.0022m/s.ย
However small this speed may be, it is still greater than zero.
So here you have your answer: Speed of sound is greater than speed of light not in conventional medium but in altogether different state of matter BEC.
Sources:
- Slow light – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_light#cite_note-3
- Light Changed to Matter, Then Stopped and Moved:ย https://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=28520
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1205.4774v1.pdf
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF LIGHTNING IS NEAR BY?
https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/lightning-distance
If you see dark clouds, then lightning could be present, but the best thing you can do is to listen for thunder. If you hear thunder, then you need to go indoors or get in a car. Don’t be outside, where lightning could strike! If your hair stands on end or your skin starts to tingle, lightning maybe about to strike. Get down on your hands and knees and keep your head tucked in. Do not lay flat, because it can give lightning a better chance of strike you.ย
HOW FAR AWAY CAN YOU SEE LIGHTNING AND HEAR THUNDER?
Within those distant thunderstorms, the lightning bolts can be seen as much as 100 miles from us, depending on the height of the bolt, the clarity of the air, and our elevation. Thunder, in comparison, has a much shorter range of detection – usually less than 15 miles in a quiet rural setting and under 5 miles in a noisy city environment.
Why are you less likely to see static electricity in the summer?
In the summer, our dew points are much higher due to warm and humid air coming from the Gulf of Mexico and that is why we have humid weather. In the winter, our dew points are much lower due to cold and direr air coming from Canada. The lower the dew point the better it is to create static electricity, so that’s why you see it more in the winter.
WHAT IS CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING?
All lightning is dangerous, but cloud-to-ground lightning is the most dangerous type of lightning. Most cloud-to-ground lightning strikes come from the negatively charged bottom of the cloud traveling to the positively charged ground below.
Cloud-to-ground lightning bolts strike the tall objects, like trees and buildings. These lightning strikes can cause fire and property damage. If you’re the tallest object, then lighting can strike you. Lightning is the second weather related killed.
WHAT IS INTRA-CLOUD LIGHTNING?
Intracloud lightning is the most common type of lightning. This occurs when there are both positive and negative charges within the same cloud. Usually, the process takes place within the cloud and looks like a bright flash of light which flickers.
WHAT IS INTER-CLOUD LIGHTNING?
Intercloud lightning is less common. It’s when a lightning strike occurs when there are positive and negative charges within different clouds and the strike travels in the air between them.
WHAT IS FORKED LIGHTNING?
Forked lighting appears as jagged lines of light. They can have several branches. Forked lightning can be seen shooting from the clouds to the ground, from one cloud to another cloud, or from a cloud out into the air. This lightning can strike up to 10 miles away from a thunderstorm.
WHAT IS SHEET LIGHTNING?
Sheet lightning appears as flashes of light that seem to light up or illuminate entire clouds.
WHAT IS HEAT LIGHTNING?
Heat lightning is a term used to describe lightning flashes that are too far away from you to hear the thunder. The reason that it is called heat lightning is that it appears most often on a hot summer day when the sky is clear overhead.
On a hot, summer evening or night, distant lightning is often referred to as “heat lightning”. The reason it is referred to as this is because of a MYTH that summertime heat just causes lightning. The atmosphere does not work that way. What gets called “heat lightning” is actually distant thunderstorms producing lightning.
WHAT AM I ACTUALLY SEEING..?
Typically, isolated thunderstorms that have formed during the day far off on the horizon. These thunderstorms usually form during the mid to late afternoon and last into the early nighttime hours before collapsing. When there are not a lot of other clouds in the sky, they are easy to see off in the distance. And because they are so far away, you may never get any rain or hear any thunder from that storm.
WHY DO THESE STORMS GET MISLABELED AS “HEAT LIGHTNING”?
I’m not sure where the phrase started, but certainly has been around for quite some time. Simply, it’s hot , there is lightning in the distance, and there is clear sky overhead. Put all of that together and you get “heat lightning”. However, there is nothing special going on here. The 90 and 100 degree Oklahoma temperatures are not just causing the sky to produce lightning. No, there is an actual storm with rain underneath it going on in the distance.ย
WHY CANยดT I HEAR ANY THUNDER?
Most times the storms causing the lightning are a great distance away from someone seeing the lightning. Sound travels much slower than light, and the booms of thunder that accompany lightning just dissipate before reaching your location. Trust me, people who are underneath that thunderstorm or much closer are definitely hearing the thunder that occurs with those lightning strikes.
WHAT IS IT CALLED?
There is no special name that needs to go a long with what you are seeing. It is just summertime storms.ย
WHAT IS HIGH-ALTITUDE LIGHTNING?
High-altitude lightning has been given other names such as “red sprites,” “green elves,” and “blue jets.” This form of lightning appears as brightly colored flashes, high above thunderstorms. You can’t see these types of lightning from the ground.
WHAT IS RIBBON LIGHTNING?
Ribbon lightning is when a bolt of lightning separates due to wind and appears as parallel lightning streaks.
WHAT IS CHAIN OR BEAD LIGHTNING?
Chain or bead lightning is when a lightning bolt is broken into dotted lines while fading.
WHAT IS BALL LIGHTNING?
Ball lightning is a rare form of lightning. It usually appears as a reddish, luminous ball, but can come in any color. Ball lightning is usually spherical in shape and about one foot in diameter. Hissing noises originate from such balls and they sometimes make a loud noise when they explode.
Ball lightningย is an unexplained and potentially dangerousย atmospheric electricalย phenomenon. The term refers to reports ofย luminescent, spherical objects that vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter. Though usually associated withย thunderstorms, the phenomenon lasts considerably longer than the split-second flash of aย lightningย bolt. Two reportsย from the nineteenth century claim that the ball eventually explodes, leaving behind an odor of sulfur. Some reports; however, describe ball lighting to last longer than a split second according to additional accounts included below. The actually existence of this lightning ball phenomena is not proven, but appears to have a variety of accounts from people through the world in the past centuries. Until the 1960s, mostย scientistsย treated reports of ball lightning skeptically, despite numerous accounts from around the world.ย Laboratory experiments can produce effects that are visually similar to reports of ball lightning, but how these relate to the natural phenomenon remains unclear.
WHAT IS ST. ELMO’S FIRE?
St. Elmo’s Fire appears as a blue or greenish glow above pointed objects on the ground. It is created when tiny positively charged sparks reach up in response to negatively charges in the air or clouds above the ground. If a thunderstorm is nearby, St. Elmo’s Fire might be seen right before a lightning strike.
WHAT IS ANVIL LIGHTNING?
Anvil lightning is a type of lightning referred to as “the bolt from the blue” because it often appears suddenly from a seemingly cloudless sky. A bolt at the top of a thunderstorm arcs away from the main cloud and strikes the ground where the skies above often appear clear.
CAN YOU TELL HOW TO ESTIMATE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND A THUNDER STORM?
HOW TO ESTIMATE THE ACTUAL DISTANCE TO A THUNDERSTORM BY COUNTING
How does lightning form Updrafts and downdrafts of wind and rain cause different parts of a cloud to become electrically charged (+) charge at top of cloud. (-) charge at bottom of cloud. – Mr. Fetch s Earth Science Class.
Yes, you can use thunder to tell how far away a storm is. Next time you see a storm, count the number of seconds between when you see the lightning and hear the thunder. Take the number of seconds and divide by 5 and that will tell you how far away the storm is in miles. For example: If you counted 10 seconds between the lightning and the thunder, the lightning is 2 miles away!
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH – A severe thunderstorm (damaging winds of 58 miles per hour or more, or 1″ hail in diameter or greater) is likely to develop in your area.
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING – A severe thunderstorm (damaging winds of 58 miles per hour or more, or hail three-fourths of an inch in diameter or greater) is taking place in your area.
โข PROTONS – They are particles with a positive charge.
โข ELECTRONS – They are particles with a negative charge.
โข STATIC ELECTRICITY – It is a form of electricity that is created when an object has too many electrons, giving it a negative charge.
โข LEADERS – A channel of charged air created by excess electrons in a thunderstorm cloud. A leader reaches from the cloud to the ground below, looking for positive charges.
โข RETURN STROKE – It’s an electrical charge that travels from the ground to a thundercloud. This return stroke releases tremendous energy, bright light and thunder.
โข STREAMERS – A channel of charged air created by protons on the ground. They are created when leaders are created and reach from the ground to the sky looking for a leader to connect with.
A LIGHTNING FLASH IS NO MORE THAN ONE INCH WIDE
What we see as a flash of lightning may actually be four different strokes in exactly the same place, one right after another. That’s why lightning appears to flicker.
* IF YOUโRE OUTDOORS:
Keep an eye at the sky. Look for darkening skies, flashes of lightning, or increasing winds. Lightning often proceeds rain, so donโt wait for the rain to begin. If you hear the sound of thunder, go to a safe place immediately. The best place to go is a sturdy building or a car, but make sure the windows in the car are shut. Avoid sheds, picnic areas, baseball dugouts and bleachers. If there is no shelter around you, stay away from trees. Crouch down in the open area, keeping twice as far away from a tree as far as it is tall. Put your feet together and place your hands over your ears to minimize hearing damage from thunder. If youโre with a group of people stay about 15 feet from each other. Stay out of water, because itโs a great conductor of electricity. Swimming, wading, snorkeling and scuba diving are not safe. Also, donโt stand in puddles and avoid metal. Stay away from clotheslines, fences, and drop your backpacks because they often have metal on them. If youโre playing an outdoor activity, wait at least 30 minutes after the last observed lightning strike or thunder.
* IF YOUโRE INDOORS:
Avoid water. Itโs a great conductor of electricity, so do not take a shower, wash your hands, wash dishes or do laundry. Do not use a corded telephone. Lightning may strike exterior phone lines. Do not use electric equipment like computers and appliances during a storm. Stay away from windows and doors and stay off porches.
* IF SOMEONE IS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING:
Call for help. Call 9-1-1 or send for help immediately. The injured person does not carry an electrical charge, so it is okay to touch them.ย
Lightning injuriesย areย injuriesย caused byย lightning strikes.
They result from three factors:
-
electrical damage.
-
intense heat.
-
the mechanical energy which these generate.
While sudden death, or cardiac arrest, is common because of the huge voltage of a lightning strike, survivors often fare better than those affected by other electrical injuries caused by more prolonged and lesser voltage.
INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTNING SAFETY
Summertime across the Ohio Valley means barbecues, festivals, sporting events, boating, hitting the beach, camping, and many other recreational activities. In short, summertime means a lot more people are spending a lot more time in the great outdoors. But summer is also the peak season for one of the nation’s deadliest weather phenomena — lightning. Lightning typically receives less attention than other storm-related killers because it does not result in mass destruction or mass casualties like tornadoes, floods, or hurricanes often do. But consider these lightning statistics:
About 25 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occur in the United States each year.
Over the last 30 years, the U.S. has averaged 51 lightning fatalities per year (see graph).
Only about 10% of people struck by lightning are actually killed. The other 90% must cope with varying degrees of discomfort and disability, sometimes for the rest of their lives.
Typically, the vast majority of lightning victims each year are male (in 261 instances from 2006-2013, 81% of lightning fatalities were male and 19% were female).
How do Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio compare to the rest of the nation in terms of lightning activity and lightning fatalities? In a typical year, the central Ohio Valley sees some of the most frequent lightning activity across the United States. Check out the images and table below for further insight (note: “CG” stands for cloud-to-ground).
LIGHTNING SAFETY GUIDELINES
Lightning is one of the most erratic and unpredictable characteristics of a thunderstorm. Because of this, no one can guarantee an individual or group absolute protection from lightning. However, knowing and following proven lightning safety guidelines can greatly reduce the risk of injury or death.
Most lightning victims are not struck during the worst of a thunderstorm but rather before or after the storm reaches its greatest intensity. This is because many people are unaware that lightning can strike as far as 25 miles away from its parent thunderstorm, much farther out from the area of rainfall within the storm!
Therefore, if you can hear thunder, you are within striking distance. Seek safe shelter immediately. Remember this lightning safety rule: WHEN THUNDER ROARS, GO INDOORS…and stay there until 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder. Do not wait for the rain to start before you decide to seek shelter, and do not leave shelter just because the rain has ended.
The best way to protect yourself and your family from the dangers of thunderstorms is to be prepared. If you have outdoor plans, be sure to familiarize yourself with the latest weather forecast before heading out. Consider taking a portable NOAA Weather Radio or AM/FM radio with you. Upon arriving on-site, determine where you will seek shelter in the event of a thunderstorm and how long it would take to reach that shelter. A sturdy, enclosed structure with plumbing and electrical wiring is safest, but if one is not available most enclosed metal vehicles are safe alternatives.
During your outdoor activities, keep an eye to the sky for developing thunderstorms. If thunder is heard, if lightning is seen, or even if thunderclouds are developing, get to your place of shelter without delay! The table below gives examples of adequate and inadequate types of shelter for lightning safety.
WHERE TO GO:
The safest location during a thunderstorm is inside a large enclosed structure with plumbing and electrical wiring. These include shopping centers, schools, office buildings, and private residences. If lightning strikes the building, the plumbing and wiring will conduct the electricity and eventually direct it into the ground.
If no substantial buildings are available, then an enclosed metal vehicle such as an automobile, van, or school bus would be a suitable alternative.
WHERE NOT TO GO:
Not all types of buildings or vehicles are safe during thunderstorms.
Buildings with exposed sides are NOT safe (even if they are “grounded”). These include beach shacks, metal sheds, picnic shelters/pavilions, carports, and baseball dugouts. Porches are dangerous as well.
Convertible vehicles offer NO safety from lightning, even if the top is up. Other vehicles which are NOT safe during thunderstorms are those with open cabs, such as golf carts, tractors, and construction equipment.
Being inside a house or other building with electrical wiring and plumbing is your safest option during a thunderstorm, but it does not guarantee you will be 100% safe from lightning. There are still some lightning safety guidelines you must follow while inside a place of shelter to keep yourself safe.
Don’t use corded phones:
Using a corded phone during a thunderstorm is one of the leading causes of indoor lightning injuries. However, it IS safe to use cordless or cell phones as long as they are not being charged.
Stay away from windows and doors:
Sitting on an open porch to watch a thunderstorm is also dangerous. It is best to be in an interior room during a thunderstorm.
Don’t touch electrical equipment or cords:
Any device that uses electricity (e.g. computers, televisions, household appliances, etc.) is susceptible to a lightning strike. Electrical surges caused by lightning can damage electronics (even at some distance from the actual strike), and a typical surge protector will do little to protect the device (or the person using it) if lightning should strike. So consider unplugging certain appliances or electronics, but for your own safety do this BEFORE the storm arrives.
Avoid plumbing:
Metal plumbing and the water inside are both very good conductors of electricity. Therefore, do not wash your hands or dishes, take a shower or bath, do laundry, etc. during a thunderstorm.
Refrain from touching concrete surfaces:
Lightning can travel through the metal wires or bars in concrete walls and flooring, such as in the basement or garage.
If inside a vehicle:
Roll the windows up and avoid contact with any conducting paths leading to the outside of the vehicle (e.g. metal surfaces, ignition, portable electronic devices plugged in for charging, etc.).
Lightning Myths and Facts
Myth:
A lightning victim is electrified. If you touch him, you’ll risk being electrocuted.
Fact:
The human body does not store electricity, and lightning victims require immediate medical attention. It is perfectly safe to touch a lightning victim in order to give them first aid. Call 911 for help.
Myth:
If it’s not raining or there aren’t any clouds overhead, you’re safe from lightning.
Fact:
Lightning often strikes several miles from the center of a thunderstorm, far outside the rain or thunderstorm cloud. In fact, “bolts from the blue” can strike as far as 25 miles out from the parent thunderstorm. That’s why it’s important to seek shelter at the first indication of a thunderstorm and stay there until 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.
Myth:
The rubber soles of shoes or rubber tires on a car will protect you from a lightning strike.
Fact:
Rubber-soled shoes and rubber tires provide NO protection from lightning, but most vehicles with metal tops and sides do provide adequate shelter from lightning because the charge travels through the metal frame and eventually into the ground. Just be sure to avoid contact with anything inside the vehicle that conducts electricity. Remember, convertibles, motorcycles, bicycles, open-shelled outdoor recreational vehicles and cars with fiberglass shells offer no protection from lightning.
Myth:
“Heat Lightning” occurs after very hot summer days and poses no threat.
Fact:
Many people incorrectly think that “heat lightning” is a specific type of lightning. Actually, it is just lightning from a thunderstorm that is too far away for any thunder to be heard (thunder is seldom heard beyond 10 miles under ideal conditions). If the storm approaches, the same lightning safety guidelines above should be followed.
Myth:
Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
Fact:
Lightning often strikes the same place or object repeatedly, especially if it’s tall, pointy, and isolated. The Empire State Building is struck by lightning nearly 100 times each year.
Myth:
If caught outside during a thunderstorm, you should seek shelter under a tree.
Fact:
Seeking shelter under a tree is one of the leading causes of lightning related fatalities. Remember, NO PLACE outside is safe when thunderstorms are in the area. If you are caught outside in a thunderstorm, keep moving toward a safe shelter.
Myth:
Metal structures or metal on the body (jewelry, watches, etc.) attract lightning.
Fact:
The presence of metal has no bearing on where lightning will strike. Mountains are made of rock but get struck by lightning many times a year. Rather, an object’s height, shape, and isolation are the dominant factors that affect its likelihood of being struck by lightning. While metal does not attract lightning, it obviously does conduct electricity, so stay away from metal fences, railings, bleachers, etc. during a thunderstorm.
Myth:
If caught outside during a thunderstorm, you should lie flat on the ground.
Fact:
NO PLACE outside is safe when thunderstorms are in the area. If you are caught outside in a thunderstorm, keep moving toward a safe shelter.
https://ffxfirerescue.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/lightning-safety-awareness-week-2/
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