Lightning

This week we've had some pretty BIG thunderstorms. I know it may not be as interesting to you as it is to me, but nevertheless I've uploaded some pictures/video, including some information about lightning / thunderstorms.

I started to think to myself..."What do I know about lightning other than that it is a form of electricity?" I've came to find out that it is actually a giant electrical spark that is caused by the ice and water in a cloud, rubbing together and causing static electricity. Now that's the simple explaination.

Here are some interesting facts about lightning:

• Hits temperatures of 50,432 degrees fahrenheit
• Contain 100 million electrical volts
• Each spark can reach more than 5 miles
• Lightning kills more people than hurricanes or tornadoes.
• Lightning can heat up the sap in the tree’s trunk. The sap becomes steam, which expands and, wham! Kablooey! The tree blows apart.
• Lightning does strike twice, and sometimes more.
• Park ranger Roy Sullivan holds the record for surviving lightning strikes. Between 1942 and his death in 1983, he was struck seven times. The first lightning strike shot through Sullivan's leg and knocked off his big toenail. That’s gotta hurt.
• You can't hear thunder when it comes from a form of lightning called Heat Lightning which is over 10 miles away and occurs most frequently during the Summer months (which was exactly what I experienced).
• The safest place to be is in a building, away from the windows, or in a metallic, conductive cage like a car or an (aluminum) airplane. These act as Faraday-cages.

Here are the types of Lightning...
Intracloud lightning, sheet lightning, anvil crawlers
Cloud-to-ground lightning, anvil-to-ground lightning
Bead lightning, ribbon lightning, staccato lightning
Cloud-to-cloud lightning
Cloud-to-ground lightning
Heat lightning or summer lightning
Ball lightning
Sprites, elves, jets, and other upper atmospheric lightning
Streak lightning
Triggered lightning
Lightning throughout the Solar System

To view my entire collection of photos taken during that storm,
Simply click on this image below and watch the slideshow...



Here is a video clip of an electrical storm over-head, CRAZY!!
* This video is in fast motion.