⚡ LIGHTNING: NATURE'S ELECTRIC DISCHARGE
PAGE 1 OF 5, SKY ON FIRE
ELECTRIC SKY
A BOLT HOTTER THAN THE SUN
Lightning is a huge spark of electricity in the atmosphere. A single bolt can reach about 30,000°C, roughly five times hotter than the Sun's visible surface. It can also carry around 300 million volts of electric pressure. That is enough energy to light millions of bulbs for a split second. Most lightning happens inside or between storm clouds. Some bolts streak from cloud to ground. The flash looks instant, but it is one of nature's most powerful events.
⚡ FAST FACT
Earth is hit by lightning about 100 times every second. That adds up to millions of strikes each day worldwide.
ZAP!
HEAT
☀️ The Sun's surface is about 5,500°C, but a lightning channel briefly gets far hotter than that.
🔥 That extreme heat is why you hear thunder right after you see the flash.
🔥 That extreme heat is why you hear thunder right after you see the flash.
VOLTAGE
🔌 Home wall sockets use about 230 volts in many countries, tiny compared with a storm bolt.
⚡ Huge voltage pushes electric current through the air once the charge gap finally breaks down.
⚡ Huge voltage pushes electric current through the air once the charge gap finally breaks down.