We all live in a cycle of events that occurs in nature. One of the events that make most people excited is raining through the water cycle. Though rainwater is essential for all living organisms, it comes with the scariest light and sound, lightning and thunder. Some of us are wondering from where thunder and lightning occur. We would hear things about thunder and lightning in our fantasy stories like, in Greece, Zeus is a god of the sky who controls lightning and thunder. Here you will learn the spark of lightning and the beat of thunder.
What causes lightning?
Clouds are formed from tiny water droplets and dust floating. In the sky, the condensation of these small water particles creates rain. The clouds have positive (+) and negative (-) charges. It causes lightning and thunder. In thunderstorm rains, lightning and thunder have occurred. At that time, in the cloud, these positive and negative charges move. Positive charges go top of the cloud, and negative charges go to the bottom of the cloud. Charges also present in-ground houses, trees, vehicles, ocean and ships.
Negative charges in the bottom of the clouds cause electrostatic induction that makes all positive charges go top of the ground and repel the negative charges underneath the ground. It creates a gap, so the land is now positively charged. It applies to all things like trees, houses, oceans and ships. The electrons attracted to these positive charges jumped over the gaps, and it made lightning.
Types of lightning :
It is based on the concentration of positive charges attracted to the electrons in the clouds then gets neutralised.
Four types of lightning occur. 1. Within the same cloud 2. Cloud to cloud 3. Cloud to ground 4. Cloud to air
Within the same cloud: The negative charge in the bottom of the cloud attracts the top of the same clouds and causes lightning.
Cloud to the cloud: The negative charge in the bottom of the cloud attracts the positive charge in another cloud and lightning flashes.
Clouds to the ground: If the floor has a higher concentration of positive charges, the electrons in clouds are attracted to the ground and neutralise.
Cloud to air: Suppose air has a higher amount of positive charges, lightning occurs.
How do we protect ourselves from lightning?
1. Lightning is not always straight to the ground; it seeks the most straightforward way and always strikes the heights and it looks for some conductor to go to the ground. For example, if trees have high positive charges, the electrons go through the trees to reach the ground.
2. If you stand under the tree to protect yourself from rain, the electrons will hit you as lightning, and it causes injuries, even death.
3. It is safe to hide in a car. Lightning may attack the vehicle because the top of the vehicle is made up of metal. It is a good conductor, but the bottom of the car tire is rubber, and it is not a conductor, so lightning jumps from the top of the car to the ground. So, it is a safe place.
4. Don’t go to the open field because lightning may hit you.
5. If you are stuck with the open field, looking for a low spot. It is a better option than knee down legs together and heads down.
Thunder:
If the Lightning flashes, it releases a tremendous amount of heat. It reaches about 50,000°F. Lightning has powerful electricity. The report says that thunder is more scorching than the sun. This sudden dissipation of heat causes the air to scalder within a second and expands faster in the air. Then the air particles produce vibrations that become sound waves, called thunder.
For example, heat the closed glass tube. The air in the glass tube becomes hot air, expanding so faster than the normal air. After a certain period, it exploded with a sound. This is the way the thunder becomes loud.
Why does thunder occur after lightning?
Even though both take place at the same time, lightning occurs first because light travels so faster than sound. The speed rate of light is 3 x 108 m/s, whereas the sound rate is 343 m/s or 1100 ft/s.
Lightning rod:
It is used for protecting the building from lightning. A rod mounted on the top of the building; is a metal pole connected with a cable. That cable is grounded. The rod has a high concentration of charges, capturing and transferring the lightning via cable to the ground.
Did you know?
We can make artificial rain which is also known as cloud seeding, invented by Vincent J. Schaefer. In cloud seeding processing, chemicals are spread in the supercooled cloud. The substances are dry ice, silver iodide, calcium and potassium chloride, which works as a catalyst. These collisions with the cloud particles make it heavier and make the rain. It is helpful for drought-hit areas and global warming conditions.