lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the...
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 1/41
Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thundercloudsand the ground. Only about 25 percent of lightning strikes are cloud-to-ground. The restare either cloud-to-cloud or intracloud.
Another lightning hot spot is in the Himalayas where the extreme local topography forces
the convergence of air masses from the Indian Ocean.
And where does lightning strike most frequently? Central Africa. "There you getthunderstorms all year 'round," "[It's a result of] weather patterns, air flow from theAtlantic Ocean, and enhancement by mountainous areas."
There are three main problems with harnessing lightning as a source of energy. First,lightning is not consistent. This is not important, since this source of energy would only be used to decrease our dependency from other sources of energy that cause pollution.Lightning would never be able to completely replace fossil fuels by itself; however itcould be more economical and safer for the environment. Second, capturing lightning
requires a lot of lightning rods and luck. I believe this is a minor issue too. Third andfinally, converting lightning into a useful form of energy is the most difficult problem.Lightning is too strong of an electrical current to be easily stored directly into batteries.The cost of doing so would be astronomical too.
There are a couple problems. First, as you have noted, there is no way to know when or where one will strike. Another problem is even if one could induce a strike, there is astorage problem. Lightning is powerful, but very very brief. There is currently no way tostore that much power in the brief time that the lightning strikes. Storage units for
electricity typically need time to safely build and store the energy, certainly much longer than the second or two that lightning occurs at any one time
New Technologies - Harnessing Electrical Power from
Ball Lightning
Ball lightning is an odd phenomenon that can occur during lightning storms. It is so rareand brief an occurance that scientists have been unable to determine the exact cause of ituntill just a few years ago. I recently wondered if anyone had considered harenssing power from these floating sparks of plasma. Researchers have spent decades trying toharness elctricity from lightning with no success. A quick Google for Ball lightningturned up quite a lot of information. This clip from an article on ball lightning quotes a New Zealand scientists explanation of how it occurs.The first is regular lightning. Second, the lightning must hit a structure such as a building,
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 2/41
soil, or a tree. The struck object must have a metallic or an oxide component.
Now I wonder what would happen if during a thunderstorm one flew a kite that wasactually a small helium balloon coated with iron particles or a ceramic dust, or chunks of ceramics or iron. Would it cause a Ball Lightning display along with the explodinghelium ? Would it be like throwing iron filings on a flame ? Could you ignite it with alaser instead of waiting for a storm ?Scientists have been studying this phenomenon and trying to replicate it for years. One of the most recent successes at creating ball lightning in the lab was accomplished at TelAviv university in Israel by researchers Eli Ferby and Vladimir Dikhtyar. Microwaves produced from the magnetron of a common 600 watt microwave oven, were focused intoa space of a single cubic centimetre and injected through a rod into a substrate made froma variety of ceramic materials, creating a hot spot that becomes a floating molten ball asthe rod is removed.
So harenssing power from lightning balls has not only been considered, it has beenrecreated in the lab and suggested in the article on PhysicsWeb that lab-generatedfireballs could be used in practical applications such as coating, deposition, combustionand energy production. I hav'nt read about any possible military applications though iassume those experiments are well under way, and there may be some super top secrettechnologies in the works.
Harnessing Lightning
Lightning is amazing. There are over over 3 million lightning flashes a day at an averageof 40 flashes a second.An average stroke can easily release 250 kilowatt-hours of energy, enough to operate a100-watt light bulb continuously for more than three months.Lightning Fact Sheet At an average of 250 kw-h per flash thats 864,ooo,ooo kw-h per day. It is a mind boggling amount of power that has yet to be fully understood. There is enough power inlightning that if it could be harnessed there would be no energy crisis. Electron
accelerators suspend electrons in a magnetic feild as they are forced through a loopedchamber miles in diameter. It may be feasible that the charge from lightning could belooped in a similar way, forced through a magnetic feild in a loop as a way to store it.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 3/41
PESWiki.com -- Pure Energy Systems Wiki: Finding and facilitating breakthroughclean energy technologies.
Directory:Lightning Power
From PESWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
This directory addresses the power of lightning and it's utilization. There are severalquestions concerning this, but the most pertinent are (a) how to harness that power, and(b) whether there are substantial reasons not to.
Even if a harnessing method were derived, the primary drawback of lightning power is itsinconsistency. Storms might come regularly into some regions, but would enoughlightning potential fall within the range of the device to make it worth while? See
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 4/41
NOVA's special on Lightning (1989), to see how difficult it is to draw down lightningeven in the most prone areas, using rockets with teathers attached. [1]
Contents
[hide]
• 1 The Power of Lightningo 1.1 Overviews
o 1.2 Videos
o 1.3 The Discharge
o 1.4 General Power
o 1.5 Lightning and the Grid
1.5.1 Flashoverso 1.6 Harnessing Lightning Power
o 1.7 Calling Down a Lightning Strike
o 1.8 Building A Lighting Harnessing Power Plant
o 1.9 Logic-Co
o 1.10 Fermilab
o 1.11 PhysicsAstronomy.com
o 1.12 Halfbakery Proposals
o 1.13 Weatherwise Proposal
o 1.14 Counter Indications
o 1.15 Infrequency
1.15.1 (response) Consider it Supplementiveo 1.16 Rate of Utilization
1.16.1 (response) Reservoir Storageo 1.17 DC to AC Losses
1.17.1 (response) So Some Gets Losto 1.18 Aesthetics
1.18.1 (response) 1.18.2 (response)
o 1.19 Messing with Nature's Cycles
1.19.1 (response) Compromise Solutionso 1.20 Projects Tapping Lightning Power
o 1.21 Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc
o 1.22 Related Products
o
1.23 Humor o 1.24 Comments
o 1.25 Sponsor
o 1.26 See also
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 5/41
The Power of Lightning
"Each year lightning destroys more property and causes more injuries than hurricanes,floods and tornadoes combined? It can cause structural damage to buildings, destroyelectronics and damage electrical and communication systems....the cost of this damage
can be astounding!" [2]
Overviews
• Biggest Lightning Rod (video) - Lightning strikes Toronto's CN Tower (tallesttower in world) around 75 times a year! Being studied to understand those boltsfrom above. ( DiscoveryChannel.ca; May 17, 2005)
• Stunning Facts About Lightning - Lightning is exciting and frightful at thesame time. Seven stunning facts, with many amazing photos.
Videos
(3:53 minutes)
• LIVING IN LIGHTNING ALLEY NATURE LIGHTNING STRIKE
MUSIC VIDEO - This was filmed in Central Florida over 3 days. We addedsome music for fun. The jet was not hit by lightning. It was further behind as theBolt had no thunder. (GreenPowerScience; YouTube; July 11, 2008)
The Discharge
Reference"Lightning" page by GSU's Hyperphysics
• A lightning strike is composed of several stroke events.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 6/41
• Voltage: A typical lightning bolt bridges a potential difference (voltage) of
several hundred million volts.• A typical lightning bolt may transfer 1020 electrons in a fraction of a second,
developing a peak current of up to 1000 kiloamperes.• Current: Most measurements have been in the range 5,000 to 20,000 amps.
Currents over 200,000 amps have been reported.• Hot v Cold Lightning: Most commonly, the lightning current ceases in about a
millisecond for a given stroke, but sometimes there is a continuing current on theorder of 100 amps following one or more of the strokes. This is called "hotlightning" and it is the cause of lightning fires according to Uman. Thetemperatures of lightning are 8,300-33,000°C for both "cold" and "hot" lightning -it is the continuing current that starts some 10,000 fires per year in the U.S. in the
estimation of Uman.• Total power: A moderate thunderstorm generates several hundred megawatts of
electrical power.
• "Gigantic Jets" Blast Electricity Into the Ionosphere - These lightning bolts
that reach from cloud tops upward into the ionosphere, as high as 90 kilometers,have been measured by researches at Duke University to carry as much energyskyward as ordinary lightning strikes carry to the ground. ( New Scientist ; Aug. 23,2009)
General Power
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 7/41
• One strike has enough energy to light 150,000,000 light bulbs. ( Discovery.ca;May 17)
The following data is from an Atlanta Journal article (cited here)
•
About 95 people die from lightning yearly in the U.S.• A single thunderstorm can release 470 million litres of water (that's the volume of
16 Washington Monuments).• One storm can discharge enough energy to supply the entire U.S. with electricity
for 20 minutes• A large Midwestern cumulonimbus can tower 20-25 km (Mount Everest is 8.8 km
high.)• There are approximately 2,000 thunderstorms at any given moment worldwide.
Lightning and the Grid
Flashovers
West Virginia Lightning Flashover Reference
http://wvlightning.com/powerflash.html "Chances are, you've seen it. Right after a lightning strike -- a bright, mysterious
blue-green glow in the sky, coming from ... the ground? This time it's not lightning - it's a brief man-made fireworks display produced by a short-circuited
power line."
1. A lightning bolt strikes one of the live power lines, then jumps across an insulator to reach the grounded tower.
2. The section of lightning channel across the insulator acts as a conductor, causing ashort circuit.
3. Man-made power from the live wire begins flowing through the section of old
lightning channel in an intensely bright arc.4. Circuit breakers at a substation detect the short, then cut power to the affected line
momentarily to stop the arc.
Harnessing Lightning Power
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 8/41
"Lightning electricity technically does not need to be generated, only transformed into auseful quality." (ref )
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 9/41
Calling Down a Lightning Strike
• Laser Triggers Electrical Activity In Thunderstorm - A team of Europeanscientists has deliberately triggered electrical activity in thunderclouds for the firsttime by aiming high-power pulses of laser light into a thunderstorm. During two passing thunderstorms, the researchers used laser pulses to create plasmafilaments that could conduct electricity. (SoftPedia; Apr. 14, 2008)
Building A Lighting Harnessing Power PlantHow hard would it be to build a power plant that harnesses the electricity generated
by lightning? Then, store the electricity and use it on-demand on the electric grid? Pie-In-The-Sky?
This concept is perhaps not as impractical as it once was. The main limiting factor of implementing a lightning capturing scheme such as this was the inability to be able tostore large amounts of electricity for later use. However, new Utility Scale Battery technology or other energy storage technologies such as Flywheels or Capacitors could be used to store the electricity captured from lightning in massive quanties, for later grid
use.
Obviously, a lightning capturing power plant would only be practical in regions withfrequent thunderstorms, such as Florida.
How hard would it be to build an array of lighting rods to capture periodic thunderstormelectricity? The biggest hurdle would really be creating power plant infrastructure thatcould survive the harsh surges created by lightning strikes, but even that seems possiblewith current technology and materials. Electrical and building design engineers couldcome up with an innovative way to make it work. Specially designed buffer/insulationand transformer materials could be used to safely capture and harness the massive
amounts of electricity generated during a lighting strike, and transfer it to large storagedevice for later use.
Logic-Co
On Dec. 7, 2007, Farid Fahim of Logic-Co wrote:
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 10/41
Logic-Co is an environmental company pursuing renewable energy in the form of electricity from lightning.
"The rate of lightning is 100 flashes per second all over the globe. One flash = 4 strokes.Each stroke has 10^12 Watts. This means that when Locig-Co succeeds to get one flash,
and trsnform it to electricity, that it is equal to a power station of 20 MW working for 50hours continuously.
"Logic-Co is seeking a partner in USA to clean the environment."
Contact
Logic-CoTel & Fax: 00202 24322655Mobile: 012 3358572E-mail:
•
[email protected]• [email protected]
MAIN OFFICE:6TH B Bahst Badia St. (Saudia Buildings)Shobra 11241Cairo EGYPT
Fermilab
• Q/A about tapping lightning power
PhysicsAstronomy.com
• For Splitting Water - So, a large electric current will split water into oxygen andhydrogen. Combusting hydrogen regenerates water and produces a lot of usableenergy. Is there any way to direct lightning through a closed container of water that could then be split into gasses that could serve as fuel?
Halfbakery Proposals
• Harnessing Lightning with Tungsten Reservoir - "An array of lightning rodswould channel the electricity to a large underground reservoir of tungsten (or other metal with a high specific heat). This would melt the metal, storing theenergy as heat. The energy can then be harnessed at a leisurely pace by creatingsteam and generating electricity from it."
• Rods for Lightning Power - Make a huge tower connected to a huge capacitor andon to the power grid... Every time it gets hit we get tons of energy.
o Space elevator - could be used as cloud charge harvester as well!
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 11/41
• Harness the power of random electrostatic discharge
• Space balloon - large array of balloons which would be tied to conductive lines.If placed in a lightning prone area, strikes would generate constant energy (doesnot have to be ground strikes)...
o
cons: would the intense current fry any lines that we can create? theselines would be a hazard to aircraft (this would have to be declared a no-flyzone). Also, same storage issues as listed elsewhere.
o (posted here on Nov. 12, 2006 by User:Dachoste)
Weatherwise Proposal
• Q. "I have heard that one lightning strike would provide enough energy for amedium sized town for a month. Is this true? How much power would it provide?"
Answer by Weatherwise.org
"Capturing and using the energy in lightning has been the subject of manyimaginative proposals over the years, but there are practical reasons for not eventrying. If I relocated my house in central Florida, where the greatest flash densityin the United states occurs, I could maximize the chances of lightning hitting myhouse. This area experiences about 10 cloud-to-ground strokes per squarekilometer per year. Because my house occupies much less than a square kilometer of area, I could build a tall tower to attract or trigger lightning, thereby preventingit from hitting neighboring houses but probably violating the local covenants andgreatly irritating my neighbors. I would also have to install a very large capacitor
to store the energy in each bolt so that it could be used as needed during the days between lightning strikes. If my tower could attract 100 bolts a year‹and a real300 meter (984-foot) tall tower in Florida does‹I could reduce or perhapseliminate my electric bill, but I'd have to be very careful to stay away from the base of the tower during storms. It would not profit my neighbor to build a similar tower because there wouldn't be enough lightning to go around."To summarize, the energy in lightning bolts is far too small to satisfy thevoracious energy appetites of a small town in an industrialized country. Theequipment needed to store the energy would probably not fit with the decor of your living room, and if lightning were your only source of electrical power, youwould find yourself in the dark during dry spells."
Counter Indications
Reasons not to harness lightning power.
Infrequency
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 12/41
Not a regular, reliable input stream, but sporatic. Not feasible for a primary energysource.
(response) Consider it Supplementive
As an augmentive source, this becomes additional energy that can be used at least for a brief period.
"There are place on earth however, which are known for exceptional lightning activity(such as lightning alley in Florida) which might one day fill the bill for this, much thesame as cost effective wind power generators have to be installed at specific locations onearth where air speed is reliably high enough to do the necessary work." (ref)
"From what I understand, there are over 2000 lightning storms occuring at any given timearound the globe. The reason for this, is solar winds from the sun blowing across theionsphere. If we could focus the cumulative lightning strikes to a centralized location, we
could then not only have a constant, uniform, plasma tube of energy to tap off of any timewe want. Then we could use Tesla's wireless transmission to transmit power to anylocation on the globe, providing the entire planet with all the free energy it could ever use." Dan [email protected]
Mechanicial storage beyond the atomic scale is inpracticial for this applicaiton. A newconcept is storage means could make this an idea with practicial applications.
I think there are indeed new material combinations offering infinite possibilities in this
sense; this goes especially for the future (as well as the frequency of storms - see"Bladerunner") - but this would need dedicated experimentation and development whichon any serious scale WILL run into difficulties and obstructions coming from the"fossils".. cheers jiri
Rate of Utilization
"Another issue would be transferring this massive block of power to the electricaltransmission grid in a slow enough manner to be absorbed by the system withoutadversely affecting online generating stations, and without transmitting more power thanthe grid can use." (ref)
(response) Reservoir Storage
Store the energy such that it can be extracted at the rate needed.
"Perhaps the new superconductors being developed can make a magnetic energy storagedevice capable of handling the job (SMES)." (ref)
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 13/41
Clouds can store electricity just fine themselves. They are basically just hugecapacitors. Why not slowly extract thier energy by suspending a large branchingnet of conductive rods and wires in the lower level of the cloud. The smaller,more frequent stikes that would come in contact with this structure are more thekind of thing we are looking for. The more intricate and large the net of wires is,
and the closer you get to touching every single charged droplet, the more evenlydistibuted through time the current will be.Another idea! Suspend this net between 3 or more parallel cables which continueupward to a massive kite in the jet stream. Tether the cables to electric trainswhich attempt to follow the storm, and convert the energy to AC onboard anddirect it back into thier electric rails. =_)Hey, why not use the high-altitude wind turbine capability to create a lead toground to conduct the current from the storm clouds! Or whould that be liketrying to collect electricity from a wind turbine during a hurricane?
DC to AC Losses
Electricity derived from lightning would be DC, and would need to be converted to ACfor grid usage.
(response) So Some Gets Lost
When the energy is free to begin, so what if you lose some.
Aesthetics
Lightning Towers would be considered an eyesore.
(response)
Get over it. Decorate it. Make it look like a tree. Also take this into account. Within acentury our conventional fossil fuels will have run out. By then most people would rather deal with an eyesore rather than having to give up electricity. The true is we are reallygoing to have to grow up as a race and deal with alternative energies seriously or dealwith the impending world crisis which seems to already have started due to Hurricanessuch as Katrina.
(response)
Towers wouldn't be neccessary if wire leads were fired into the storm clouds by smallrockets no bigger than the kind used for fireworks.
Messing with Nature's Cycles
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 14/41
• Nature cycles, nitrogen cycle, nitrogen fixing in soil. Would harnessing lightning power eliminate important rejuvinative cycles of nature, or could it be done withminimal impact on nature's needs?
(response) Compromise Solutions
Lightning power harvesting devices could be rotated from one area to another so that noone region's ecosystem is deprived of its quota of needed natural factors derived fromlightning.
Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria provides most of the nitrates that plants need. Fixation bylightning only amounts to about 5% of the total.
Projects Tapping Lightning Power
"My latest test used an artificial lightning bolt for 1 second to charge a
diode/resistor wired 2,100VAC capacitor. The stored energy was dumped into aCO2 cutting laser burning thru 1/4 inch steel. Only 3 turns of #10 wire used for induction capture.There are hurdles to overcome. Storage technology for power is getting better, I'mnot sure if it is 100% feasable to power homes yet. But will continueexperimenting." Steven LeRoy
• Livingstone Lightning - Todd Livingstone claims to have two working prototypes for harnessing the power of lightning. Seeks assistance in taking the project the distance.
o BLAM-O -- Power from Lightning] - Having demonstrated a smaller
prototype using artificial lightning, Todd Livingstone is now waiting for the next lightning storm to test his full-scale prototype for harnessing theenergy of a lightning strike. Technology is a reverse of directed energyweapons.( PESN ; July 10, 2005)
Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc
Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc: A rapidly developing green energy holding corporationwith multiple alternative power projects under development, including marketablelightning harvesting technology for electricity production. Harnessing the natural energy
produced from a bolt of lightning as a clean energy solution will not only eliminatenumerous environmental hazards associated with the energy industry, it will alsosignificantly reduce the costliness of power production. When amortized over four toseven (4-7) years, a lightning farm will be able to produce and sell electricity for as lowas $0.005 per kilowatt hour, thus significantly undercutting the current production costsof its competing energy sources.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 15/41
Our project research team has successfully developed a model prototype to demonstratethe ‘capturing’ capabilities of the lightning farm technology, and initial project focus will be on the development of a mobile full-scale lightning farm to be tested during peak lightning season (July through August) of 2007. For additional information and investor relations, please visit http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com or email
Related Products
• Lightning Detectors - Several makes and models at shopping.com.
• http://bondedlightning.com/ - Lightning protection for residential and commercialapplications; includes surge protection.
Humor
Image source: http://www.worth1000.com
CommentsSee Discussion page
Sponsor
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 16/41
Effective internet marketing company reviews along with the companies which providedomain registration as well as dedicated server for your hosting needs. See also: Webdesigning company
See also
• Directory:Tesla coil
Katrina manipulation
• Weather Control Technologies - Amateur and hostile weather-makers alike likely
to lose their technology to the military.
- Directory - Other 'directory' listings.- Main_Page - PESWiki home page.
Retrieved from "http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Lightning_Power "
Category: Lightning
Harnessing Lightning and Using the Electricity
January 23rd, 2007 by imagery
The idea of harnessing lightning and using theelectricity to supplement our power grid has been
thought up many times in the past. But knowing whenand where lightning will strike, capturing the lightning bolt, finding the right materials that could withstand thesudden surge of electricity and pushing it onto theelectrical grid are not easy obstacles to overcome.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 17/41
A typical lightning bolt produces about 10,000 amps but some bolts, such as the one thatstruck the Apollo spacecraft upon liftoff in the 60’s, have measured well over 100,000amps. Nowadays, there are large capacitors and batteries which could store the hugeamounts of electricity a lightning bolt creates, but would it be practical to try and harnessit? Surprisingly, no. There is very little power in a lightning bolt when you compare it to
how much power we really use in our homes and cities.
There’s no question thunderstorms generate a tremendous amount of electricity.Ironically, when you convert a lightning bolt into watts, an even larger number is produced. But when you convert the lightning into kilowatt-hours (the unit used tomeasure the power we use in our homes) it’s rather insignificant. In fact, the averagelightning bolt contains about 250 kilowatt-hours of electricity. However, the averagehousehold uses anywhere from 500 kilowatt-hours to 1500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month. So one average lightning bolt won’t even power the average home for half amonth let alone a small town or a large city. In addition, there are a few problems withtrying to harness and use the electricity generated by a lightning bolt.
Ironically, the electricity itself is one of them. Transferring this much electricityin such a short amount of time onto the electrical grid would crush it. While notimpossible, you would need a place to temporarily store all the electricity, perhaps in huge capacitors and/or batteries capable of an extremely quick chargeand then find some way of slowly trickling the charge onto the power grid.
While capacitors today can store huge amounts of electricity, most aren’t charged inabout 0.2 msec, the time it takes for a lightning bolt to discharge its 1,000,000 kilovoltsof electricity. Conversely, these large capacitors are usually charged “slowly” and thenquickly discharged in specialized applications (particle accelerators, lasers, rail guns, etc).
If you only captured a portion of the electricity produced by a lightning bolt, then youwould need more hits on a collection tower to make up the difference.
Taking this into consideration, one tower isn’t going to cut it. Even if it’s 100 feet tall,that doesn’t guarantee a lightning bolt is going to hit it. You would need many towersstretching 1000 feet or higher spread over a very large area that sees many thunderstormseach year to increase the odds of capturing a lightning strike. Florida would be the mostlikely location for such a lightning farm. Florida averages the most lightning strikes eachyear with about 10 strikes per kilometer per year. So, if you have a bunch of towers set upin a 1 kilometer area and these towers were able to attract all 10 lightning strikes for theentire year, you would produce enough electricity to power 2 homes for a month. As you
can see … it’s simply not worth it which is why no one has ever tried to commercializelightning as a source of electricity.
However, one company thinks they may have found a way to harvest lightning for use onthe electrical grid. You can read about them at http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com/
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 18/41
Go Back to Main Page
Lightning Injury Facts
Myths, Miracles, and Mirages
Mary Ann Cooper, MD
Adapted from Seminars in Neurology, Volume 15, Number 4,
December 1995
Copyright © 1995
(Permission for use on this page kindly granted by Thieme Medical
Publishers Inc.)
An article about both lightning and electrical injuries
Injuries from man-made, generated,or "technical" electricity have beenreported for only about 150 years; but injuries from lightning mustsurely predate written records.Depictions of lightning affecting
people or events appear in writingsand drawings from almost everyancient religion. Although such anoccurrence was sometimesinterpreted as a positive sign of blessing, more often it was seen as asign of the god's warning or vengeance.
Priests, the earliest astronomers andmeteorologists, became proficient at
weather prediction, interpretingchanges in weather as omens of goodor bad fortune, sometimes to theadvantage of their political mentors.Observations of lightning and other natural phenomena were often usedto decide matters of state, thescheduling of battles or other events.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 19/41
Lightning from the east was usuallyseen as a good omen. This isreasonable because it is probably theend of a storm. Lightning from thewest was ominous, but also meant a
storm was probably approaching.
Over the centuries, superstitions andmyths have grown up about lightningthat include avoidance, protection,the types of injuries, and their treatment. In this article, I cannot beall inclusive but will attempt todiscuss some of the more commonideas, particularly those related to themedical field, as well as some myths
about injuries from the newer formof injury by generated electricity. Iwill leave discussion of appropriatelightning and electrical protection tothose who are more knowledgeablein these areas and have been kindenough to write articles for theseissues of Seminars.
Disclaimer: This article is not meantto be a scientific treatise but to beentertaining and perhapsenlightening (no pun intended sinceit is a different spelling). I am givingmy best reply to these myths basedon a composite of 20 years of experience, reading, and discussionswith patients, families, and professionals from many areas of expertise. I have had to reversemyself enough times since I beganinvestigating lightning injuries in1977 to ever claim that I know allthere is to know about it and will bethe first to encourage research intoany of these questions. It seems thateveryone has a lightning story. Ihope you will have fun reading thisand investigating these areas for yourself. Lightning and electrical
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 20/41
injuries are fascinating and the mythsthat have grown up about them aremyriad. I invite you to collect your own. If you will be kind enough tosend them to me, I will forever be in
your debt.
CLASSIFICATION OF
MYTHS
Beliefs have grown up about theseinjuries that I will arbitrarily divideinto the following groups:
1. Occurrence anddemographics
2. Effects of the strike/typesof injuries
a. Positive effects b. Negative effects
3. Significance of the strike 4. Prevention/ avoidance
OCCURRENCE ANDDEMOGRAPHICS
"I will probably never treat a
victim of a lightning injury in my
practice because they are so rare.
"
False. It is true that injuries fromelectrical injuries are probably more
common than lightning injuries,especially when low-voltage injuriesare included. Best estimates placelightning injuries at somewhere between several hundred and a fewthousand per yearn 4 It is commonfor the victims to avoid medical careinitially, hoping that the symptoms
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 21/41
will subside in a few hours or days.Most are not admitted to the hospitaland thus do not become part of anystate hospital admission databank.Lopez and Holle have done some of
the best studies on the epidemiologyof lightning injuries and I refer youto their articles in these issues andelsewhere. (5,6) It would be unusualto meet a neurologist who has nothad at least one patient withcomplaints referable to an electricalevent. Much research remains to bedone into the best treatment, thedifferences between these groups,and long-term effects.
This picture illustrates the lightningdistribution worldwide.
Global frequency and distribution of
lightning as observed from space by the
Optical Transient Detector
"I will probably never treat a
victim of a lightning injury in my
practice because no one lives to
talk about it."
False. In 1980, I published a study
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 22/41
of collected literature and found onlya 30% mortality.(7) Andrews (8)repeated the study a few years later and calculated it slightly differentlyat 20%. Both reviews would
overestimate the mortality, as casereports will always be biased towardthe more severe or interesting cases.Although Holle and Lopez reportfigures somewhat differently, my best guess on the mortality fromlightning would be about 3 to 10% of all incidents. Projecting fromnumbers of between 75 and 150reported deaths per year (and manydo not get coded appropriately),
there may be as many as 750 to 5000injuries per year.
"Nowadays most lightning
injuries occur on the golf course. "
False. Indeed, a large number arework-related. These include injuriesto postal and construction workersand persons using telephones thathave not been properly grounded. (5)The numbers of farmers injured hasdecreased farmers to work larger fields in better-protected vehicles.Injuries during recreation haveincreased. They occur to joggers,hikers, and campers, as well asgolfers. In addition, a significantnumber of people are injured while participating in team sports.
"Some people can attract
lightning."
Some have called themselves"human lightning rods," claimingthat thunderstorms would changecourse to find them or that they had been struck multiple times. Givenmy experience with lightning
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 23/41
victims, I must say that, althoughsome may suffer little injury from asingle strike, the majority have sometype of sequela. When one claims tohave been hit 20 or more times, the
odds of being able to talk about itdecrease logarithmically. Would anyreasonable person not have enoughsense to learn to avoid lightning after the first couple of hits?
EFFECTS OF
LIGHTNINGSTRIKE/ELECTRIC SHOCK
These effects are what these two
issues of Seminars in Neurology areall about: we have tried to addressmost of the questions that arise aboutelectrical and lightning injuries, andthe differences between lightningand electrical injuries and their
treatment have been discussed inother articles.
Because so little has been studiedin these injuries, it is often difficultto sort out the complaints that arereal from those that aremetaphysical, compensation-related,or due to normal aging. As discussedin the article by Engelstatter andPrimeau, (9) a marginally
compensated individual may see theinjury as the precipitant for allsubsequent problems in life.Although the physical and cognitivecomplaints are sometimes vague andoften do not show on standardizedtesting, nevertheless, they present aconsistent complex that is difficult to
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 24/41
disbelieve after listening to them for 15 years from people who havenothing to gain from their disability.Even the complaints that we canobjectify often have no good
treatment, frustrating both the patientand the physician.
Among the claims of positiveeffects of lightning strike (andsometimes electrical injury) are thecures for persons who have been blind, deaf, or had serious illnesses.A few years ago there was a verywell-publicized case of an elderlygentleman who was cured of his
blindness and deafness by a lightningstrike. Those of us who wereconsulted on this knew that thesewere hysterical complaints sufferedas a result of a truck accident manyyears before but forbade the press toquote us out of respect for thegentleman.
I have had one call from another gentleman who asked if lightning
could cause "hyper sexuality" because after his lightning injury hecould not seem to get enough sex.While there is a neurological injurythat can cause hyper sexuality, morecommonly lightning and electricalinjury causes impotence, as a resultof either direct nerve or spinal cordinjury or depression. There is one published claim of improvedintelligence on psychological testingafter a prolonged cardiac arrest in a pediatric patient. A woman insouthern Illinois became psychicafter suffering a lightning strikewhile asleep in bed. Reportedly, her powers have been used by policeagencies in locating missing personsand solving cases.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 25/41
If remissions or cures of seriousillness have occurred, as some haveclaimed, praise God, and I am happyfor them and will not dispute their conclusions, but I cannot explain it
by any medical literature, onlysupposition.
The medical literature and medical practice are resplendent withexamples of myths that grow out of misread, misquoted, or misinterpreted information and thatthen continue to be propagatedwithout further investigation, particularly when the author is an
individual well-respected for other accomplishments. Not the least of these is the tenet that lightningvictims who have resuscitation prolonged for several hours may stillsuccessfully recover. This belief seems to be grounded in the old ideaof "suspended animation" theconcept that lightning is capable of shutting off systemic and cerebralmetabolism, allowing rescuers a
longer period in which to resuscitatethe patient. This concept, credited tothe only article that Taussig ever wrote on lightning, actually firstappeared in an article that was published quite some time beforehers. The case recounted by Taussigthat is the basis for this myth, whensearched to its source, was a casereported by Morikawa and Steichen,F. While it does show a somewhatlonger resuscitation period thanusual, it is not as miraculous asreported in her paper or as propagated in subsequent referencesto it.
On the other hand, in a study of lightning survivors, Andrews has
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 26/41
shown increasing prolongation of theQT interval, bringing up thetheoretical possibility of toursades asa mechanism for the suspendedanimation reports.' Theoretically, if
lightning hit at the right instant of theQRS interval, a toursades type of rhythm might occur, not onlysupplying minimal cerebral perfusion, but also perhaps resolvingspontaneously. Toursade certainlyhas a better prognosis thanfibrillation or asystole. There isnew evidence from animalexperiments to support the teachingthat respiratory arrest may persist
longer than cardiac arrest. (13,14)This study, in which Australiansheep were hit with simulatedlightning strokes, showed histologicevidence of greater damage to therespiratory centers than the cardiaccenter in the medulla. Prolongedassisted ventilation may then, insome cases, be successful after cardiac activity has returned.
Among the myths about negativeeffects is the "crispy critter" myth.(3) This is the belief that the victimstruck by lightning bursts into flamesor is reduced to a pile of ashes. Inreality, lightning often flashes over the outside of a victim, sometimes blowing off the clothes but leavingfew external signs of injury and few,if any, burns.
Two other myths held by the lay public as well as many physiciansthat are particularly harmful to thelightning survivors are, "If you're notkilled fly lightning you A be OK"and, "If there are no outward signs of lightning injury, the injury can't beserious.(8) The medical literature,
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 27/41
by lack of follow-up case reports,implies that there are also few permanent sequelae of lightninginjury. However, in the last fewyears, it has become apparent that
permanent sequelae may and oftendo occur. In addition, both lightningand electrical victims withsignificant sequelae may have noevidence of burns. While the effectsof amperage and voltage have beenstudied in animals, the effect of frequency, radio waves, and bodyimpedance, as well as other effects,have not been elucidated wellenough for us to be able to explain
many injuries.
A myth that is still prevalent todayis that the victim of lightning retainsthe charge and is dangerous to touch,since he is still "electrified " Thisidea has led to unnecessary deaths because of delaying resuscitationefforts.
Many patients, particularly those
without external signs of injury, have been told, most often by medical professionals, that they have"internal burns" that are the cause of their problems. This is both amisnomer and an oversimplificationfor the cellular, vascular, biochemical, or other types of damage they may have incurred. Somany questions need to beinvestigated in lightning andelectrical injuries.
SIGNIFICANCE
"Lightning is a sign from God. "
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 28/41
I can claim no inside track on this
one. Ancient Romans saw Jove'sthunderbolts as a sign of condemnation and denied burial rites
to those killed by lightning. Andeanshold similar beliefs and mayostracize the victim. In somecultures, medicines are made fromstones that are believed to be a resultof lightning strike. Roman, Hindu,and Mayan cultures all have mythsthat mushrooms arise from spotswhere lightning has hit the ground.(5)
In the poly-ethnic United States, belief in "fate" or "God's will" mayaffect how family, friends, or coworkers relate to the victim or howthe victim feels about himself and hisrecovery. Some patients may havealready consulted a healer beforefinally seeking the advice of a physician and in rare instances itmay be difficult to treat a patientunless the help of a shaman or priest
is employed to address the religiousissues while the physician addressesthe physical ones.
PREVENTION
/AVOIDANCE
Several Roman emperors wore
laurel wreathes and sealskin, which
were believed to be protective. Plinytaught that a sleeping person wassafe from lightning. Some of thereferences at the end of this articledetail even more curiosities andmyths.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 29/41
"Wearing a rubber raincoat
(substitute sneakers or other forms
of clothing here) will decrease my
chances of being hit." Conversely:
"Wearing cleated shoes increases
my chances of being struck."
False, and probably false. The firstis easy to dispel: if lightning has burned its way through a mile or more of air (which is a superbinsulator), it is hardly logical to believe that a few millimeters of anyinsulating material will be protective.The second is a subject of contention but I tend to believe that there would
be little effect from whatever is onthe bottom of your feet. Certainlymetal on the bottom of the feet canheat up and cause secondary burns, but it is unlikely to "draw" lightningto the person.
"I am safe in a car because the
rubber tires protect me."
True and False. True because
there have been no documentedlightning deaths that have occurredin a hard topped metal vehicle withthe windows rolled up. However, thecomposite tires have little, if any, part in this, for the same reasons asthose just discussed with regard toinsulation. The safety has to do withthe fact that electrical current travelsalong the outside of a conductor (themetal body of the car) and dissipatesto the ground through paths thatinclude the tires and the rainwater.
"Wearing metal in my hair
increases my chances of being hit.
"
Questionable, although opinions
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 30/41
exist both ways. Hairpins (who usesthose anymore?) may be safe; metalhelmets may not. The issue needsmore study (and more publication).Kitigawa has shown fairly
conclusively with dummies thatmetal about the head does notincrease the likelihood of being hit(unless it projects far above the head,increasing the person's height).
"Carrying an umbrella
increases my risk of being hit. "
True. Increasing your height by
any amount increases your chancesof being hit by a calculable amount,although a prospective, population- based, double-blind, randomizedstudy has not been done to provethis, nor has the composition (metalversus composite or plastic) of theumbrella or one-iron been studied.Other dangerous things to avoid:avoid being the highest objectanywhere, be it a beach, small open
boat, pier, meadow, or ridge. Avoid being under a lightning rod (exceptwhen inside a substantial habitable building that is protected) or standing near a metal fence,underground pipes, or other metallic paths that can transmit lightningenergy from a nearby strike. Avoidswimming, because lightning energycan be transmitted through the water to you. Sailboats should be equippedwith adequate lightning protectionsystems.
"When outdoors, I should stay
away from trees."
Mostly true. Certainly you shouldstay away from the tallest trees,
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 31/41
which are more likely to be hit andside-flash or splash to you. However,one would not want to become thetallest object in an area by standingin a meadow, either. Making the
shortest, smallest target is probablythe best answer if caught in the open.If you are in a forested area, it may be wise to pick an area of densegrowth of saplings or smaller trees,rather than either a large meadow or tall trees. If on a ridge, get to a lower area.
Seeking shelter in a substantial building when possible is advisable.
The sheds on golf courses, unlessadequately protected by a lightningmitigation system, are potentiallymore dangerous because they offer height but little protection andlightning may splash from a hit tothe shelter onto the inhabitants.
"When lightning hits the ground
nearby, it is 'grounded ' and I am
safe. "
Totally and absolutely FALSE.Despite the fact that we call the eartha "ground," it is very difficult to pump electricity into the ground.Most "earth" is a very goodinsulator. When lightning hits theground, it spreads out along thesurface and first few inches of theground in increasing circles of energy called "ground current." If itcontacts a fence or a water pipe or wire entering a house it can betransmitted for quite a distance andcause injury to persons near these paths. People, being bags of electrolytes, are better transmitters of electrical current than most groundis, and many are injured by ground
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 32/41
current effect each year as thelightning energy surges up one legthat is closer to the strike and downthe one further away.
"My mother always told me to stayoff the telephone (out of the bath
tub, away from windows, unplug
the appliances, etc.) during a
thunderstorm. "
Good advice, if not always practical. Again, the ground currenteffect of energy transmitted into thestructure along wires or pipes mayfind the person a better conduit to
ground.(3,4) Many injuries occur every year to telephone users insidethe home. One of the biggest newareas of consumer fraud has to dowith claims of loss of "valuable"databases on computers damaged bylightning.(5)
"Lightning only occurs with
thunderstorms."
Most people know to seek shelter once the storm clouds roll overhead.Few realize that one of the mostdangerous times for a fatal strike is before the storm. Lightning maytravel as far as 10 km nearlyhorizontally from the thunderheadand seem to occur "out of the clear blue sky" or at least when the day isstill mostly sunny. The faster thestorm is traveling and the moreviolent it is, the more likely this is tooccur. Another time underestimatedfor its potential danger is the end of athunderstorm.(2-6)
"If we could just harness
lightning we could use that to
power the world for months. "
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 33/41
Uman eloquently explains the
reason this cannot be done and isfalse in his book, All AboutLightning.(2) He makes two points:
it is impractical to intercept asufficient number of the lightningstrikes occurring in the world, andmost of the energy in a lightningstrike is converted to thunder, heat,light, and radio waves. He notes, "If its total energy were available, asingle lightning flash would run anordinary household light bulb for only a few months."(2)
"Lightning could be used for amilitary weapon. "
Again, Uman (2), a professor of electrical engineering who writeswith wonderful clarity, is my source."In view of the awesome destructive power of modern weaponry, themilitary use of lightning . . . would probably be more as a psychologicalthan as a destructive weapon."(2)
And last but not least, "Lightning
never strikes the same place
twice."
In reality, the Empire StateBuilding and the Sears Tower get hitthousands of times a year, as domountain tops and radio-televisionantennas. If the circumstancesfacilitating the original lightningstrike are still in effect in an area,then the laws of nature willencourage lightning strikes tocontinue to be more prevalent there.After all, that is the reason thatlightning protection systems arerequired on many public buildings(including hospitals) by building
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 34/41
codes.
CONCLUSION
Lightning and electrical injuries
are fascinating and the myths thathave grown up about them aremyriad. I invite you to collect your own. If you will be kind enough tosend them to me, I will forever be inyour debt.
REFERENCES
1. Prinz: Lightning in history. In Golde RH, ed.Lightning, Vol 1. San Francisco: Academic Press, pp1-20, 1977.
2. Uman MA. All about lightning. New York:Dover, pp 1-160, 1986.
3. Cooper MA, Andrews CJ: Lightning injuries.Auerbach P ed. Wilderness Medicine, Management
of Wilderness and Environmental Emergencies, 3rded. St. Louis: CV Mosby, pp 261-89, 1995.
4. Andrews CJ, Cooper, MA, ten Duis HJ,Sappideen C. The pathology of electrical andlightning injuries. In Wecht CJ, ed. ForensicSciences, release 19 update. New York: MatthewBender & Co., 1995:23A-3-23A-165
5. Lopez RE, Holle RL, Heitkamp TA. Deaths,injuries, and property damage due to lightning in
Colorado from 1950 to 1991 based on Storm Data.In National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration Technical Memorandum ERL NSSL-103
6. Holle RL, Lopez RE, Ortiz R. et al. Cloud-to-ground lightning related to deaths, injuries and property damage in central Florida. In Proceedings,
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 35/41
International Conference on Lightning and StaticElectricity, October 6~, Atlantic City, NJ, FAAReport No. DOT/FAA/CT-92/20,66-1-66-12, 1992.
7. Cooper MA. Lightning injuries: prognostic signs
for death. Ann Emerg Med 9:134-8, 1980.
8. Andrews CJ, Darveniza M, Mackerras D.Lightning injury a review of clinical aspects, pathophysiology and treatment. Adv Trauma4:241-52, 1989.
9. Primeau M, Engelstatter GH, Bares KK Behavioral consequences of lightning and electricalinjury. Semin Neurol 15:279-85, 1995.
10. Taussig H. "Death" from lightning and the possibiliq of living again. Ann Intern Med 68:1345-50, 1968.
11. Morikawa S. Steichen F. Successfulresuscitation after "death" from lightning.Anesthesia 21:222-3, 1960.
12. Andrews CJ, Colquhoun DM, Darveniza M.The QT interval in lightning injury withimplications for the 'cessation of metabolism'hypothesis.J Wilderness Med 4:155-66, 1993.
13. Andrews CJ, Darvenia M: Effects of lightningon mammalian tissue. Proceedings, 1989International Conference on Lightning and StahcElectricity, Sept 26 28, Bath, England, 4A.4.1-4A.4.4, 1989.
14. Andrews CJ, Darveniza M. New models of theelectrical insult in lightning strike. Proceedings, 9thInternational Conference on Atmospheric Physics,St. Petersburg, Russia, 1992.
15. Lowy B. Amanita muscaria and the thunderboltlegend in Guatemala and Mexico. Mycologia66:188-90, 1974.
16. Ackerman L. Personal communication, Price-Hollingsworth Company.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 36/41
Introduction for Lightning:
Lightning is one of the world's most intriguing phenomenons. Lightning can bebeautiful to watch, but it can also be a destructive force of nature. The giant staticshock, called lightning, happens during thunderstorms and can kill or injurysomeone if they are struck. There are many precautions that can be taken to cutdown your chances of being hit by lightning and steps to take if someone isstruck.
How Lightning is formed:
Lightning is formed in a procedure involving the separation of particles and theattraction of opposite particles. Lightning can go from cloud to ground, ground tocloud or cloud to cloud.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 37/41
Lightning starts with the formation of a thunder cloud. First warm, moist air absorbs enough heat to be lighter than other air. The warm air rises andcondenses into large fluffy clouds. The water vapor in the warm air releasesstored heat which makes the cloud rise even higher. The cloud needs continuouswarm air to rise while it is being formed. When the water vapor and ice crystals
become too heavy for the cloud, some upper level precipitation occurs. The newrain creates downdrafts that pull in cooler dry air and create drag on the updrafts.Next, the top of the cloud spreads out and becomes an icy cap. As updrafts anddowndrafts work side by side, powerful winds, strong rain, thunder and lightningare created.
When the thundercloud is building up, its particles separate. The positiveparticles go to the top of the cloud, while the negative particles go to the bottom.Super-cooled water drops, formed during the making of the thundercloud, freezeand shatter. The shattering causes the particle separation. Updrafts anddowndrafts further separate the particles. The particle separation occurs in the
early stages of the thunderstorm development. Lightning usually occurs in themature stage of a storm. Lightning is an interaction between the cloud and theground. The large number of negatively charged particles at the bottom of thecloud, attract a large amount of positively charged particles on the ground. Thepositive and negative particles attract, creating lightning.
What is Thunder:
Thunder is created by the flash of lightning. When the bolt of lightning travelsbetween the cloud and the ground (in cloud to ground lightning), it heats the air to10 000 °C hotter than the surface of the sun. The heating is so fast that it pushesthe air molecules away and creates a shock wave that travels through the air.Eventually, the shock wave turns into a sound wave that is known as thunder.
Types of Lightning:
There are many types of lightning and some occur more often than others. Sometypes are Ball Lightning, Bead Lightning, Heat Lightning, Ribbon Lightning, SheetLightning, and Fork Lightning.
Ball Lightning is a very rare phenomenon. Ball Lightning is a floating sphere of light that occurs during thunderstorms. Ball Lightning may move fast or slow and
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 38/41
can be loud or even silent. Ball lightning may disappear slowly or very suddenly,and is very unpredictable. No photos have ever been taken of ball lightning andthe only evidence that it exists is through eye-witness accounts. Ball lightning is amystery to the world at this point in time.
Bead Lightning looks likes a string of beads and that is why it is called BeadLightning. Bead Lightning happens when separate illuminated strokes remainalong a recently discharged lightning channel for a short period of time, making itlook like a string of beads.
Heat Lightning is when there are faint flashes of lightning in the distance. Heatlightning got its name because it often happens on hot summer days whenthunderstorms are very common. Heat lightning is a sign that a storm is coming.
Ribbon Lightning is when it appears that there are two separate return strokesside by side. Ribbon Lightning is made by the wind blowing the return strokes
sideways and this creates the illusion of a ribbon of lightning.
Sheet Lightning is when lightning inside a cloud makes that cloud “illuminate” andthis causes the cloud to look like a sheet of light.
Forked Lightning is also known as streak, jagged or zigzagged lightning, and isthe visible section of a lightning channel. Almost all lightning is forked lightningand Forked Lightning is the most common type of lightning.
Safety from Lightning:
There are many things that you should do if you see lightning. Here are some of them:
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 39/41
1. You should have a plan in case of a lightning strike. Your plan should beused if you see lightning or hear thunder, even if there is no rain. Part of this plan should be that you go indoors or inside your car or vehicle. It isbest to be in a building or a vehicle if lightning strikes. Thunder andlightning often mean that there will be rain on the way.
2. If you are stuck outside, you should avoid water, high ground, open spaceand all metal objects. You should not hide under canopies, picnic or rainshelters or trees because they are often unsafe.
3. If lightning happens to strike the ground near you, crouch down and putyour feet together, then put your hands on your ears. After the strike youshould stay a minimum of 4 metres away from other people, as you maybe electrically charged.
4. If you are inside when the strike occurs, you should avoid water, stayaway from windows, not use the telephone, take off head sets and unplugappliances in your house.
5. You should not do any outdoor activities for 30 minutes if the lightning
strike was near you.6. If someone has been hit by lightning, administer first aid, if you arequalified to do so, and call 911. Do not carry someone who has been hitby lightning because they may still be electrically charged.
7. A good slogan to remember with lightning is "If you can see it, flee it; if youcan hear it, clear it."1
Facts about Lightning:
Lightning is a giant spark and a strike takes only one millionth of a second.Lightning can heat the air to 10 000 °C. Lightning is hotter than the surface of thesun. Eighty percent of lightning occurs inside a single cloud and the other twentypercent occurs from cloud to ground. If lightning hits the ground it can sometimesfuse the sand or sand and dirt together and turn them into glass called afulgurate. It is not possible to dodge lightning and that might be why it kills morepeople than tornados.
The Vikings thought that lightning came from the God of Thunder, Thor. Thor had
a hammer that he threw at Earth called Mjolnir, and it destroyed everything it hit.The ancient Greeks believed that lightning came from the God Zeus. Zeus threwspears that were lightning bolts. North American Native tribes thought thatlightning came from the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird shot lightning out of hiseyes, and when his wings flapped it made thunder.
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 40/41
Conclusion for Lightning:
Some ways that we can help prevent injury or death from lightning would be by
making people more aware of the dangers of lightning and how to stay safe.Many people don't worry about getting struck by lightning because it is such acommon occurrence. Awareness of the dangers and what to do could save manylives.
If you live in a place with many thunderstorms, you could also put a lightningconductor in a field or open space. The lightning would use the conductor insteadof other objects because lightning looks for the easiest path to the ground andthe tall conductor would be it. You would have to put up warning signs becausethe field might be dangerous and you may need government consent to put up aconductor.
This Diagram 4B shows what could happen if you put up a conductor (right) andwhat would happen without one (left).
8/8/2019 Lightning is a sudden discharge of electricity between charged regions of thunderclouds and the ground
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lightning-is-a-sudden-discharge-of-electricity-between-charged-regions-of-thunderclouds 41/41
Diagram #4BPicture A shows what the lightning could do without the lightning rod and PictureB shows what could happen with the lightning rod.