What causes lightning? The cause of lightning

Lightning is a common phenomenon of atmospheric discharge. In the afternoon or evening of summer, the hot air on the ground carries a large amount of water vapor to the high altitude continuously, forming a wide range of cumulonimbus clouds, and different parts of the cumulonimbus cloud gather a large number of positive or negative charges to form thunderstorm clouds, and the ground is induced by the charge of the near-ground thundercloud and will also carry the charge of the opposite sign to the cloud base. When the charge in the cloud accumulates more and more and reaches a certain strength, it will break through the air and open a narrow channel to forcibly discharge.

When the clouds are discharged, because the current in the clouds is very strong, the air on the channel is burned instantly, and the temperature is as high as 6000-20000, so it emits a dazzling strong light, which is lightning, and the high temperature on the flash path will cause the air to expand sharply, and at the same time, it will also vaporize and expand the water droplets, thus generating a shock wave, and this strong shock wave activity forms a thunder.

The energy released by a lightning strike or a cloud flash is about 300 kilowatts or more, and if all this energy is used, it can be used by an ordinary household for more than two months. Because the energy released by lightning is quite large, the physical effects such as strong current, scorching high temperature, violent shock wave, drastic electrostatic field and strong electromagnetic radiation generated by it have brought a variety of hazards to people.

It is caused by the collision of positive and negative charges between the clouds! Thank you!

It is understood that thunder and lightning are generally generated in the case of cumulonimbus clouds, at this time the cumulonimbus clouds are negatively charged, and the ground is positively charged, and the two attract each other to produce an electric current, and the appearance of bright light is lightning. And when lightning occurs, it will burst out with a lot of heat, causing the surrounding air to expand dramatically, making a loud roar, which is the reason for the occurrence of thunder and lightning.

What causes lightning? Thunder and lightning are a common phenomenon in nature, and the generation of thunder and lightning needs to be in the presence of cumulonimbus clouds, at this time the cumulonimbus clouds will be negatively charged, plus the positively charged ground, the two are attracted to each other by the magnetic field, resulting in a visible current, which is the lightning phenomenon. In addition, when lightning is generated, it will burst out with high heat, causing the surrounding air flow to expand, and a loud roar will occur, which is thunder, and the two add up to thunder and lightning.

Under normal circumstances, thunder and lightning are mostly seen in summer thundershowers, everyone should try to minimize going out, if you go out, do not walk in the open air with metal objects, do not use metal umbrellas, because it is easy to attract lightning.

In winter, when the sun is insufficient, the energy obtained by the air from the sun is insufficient, so there is no strong convective activity, and naturally thunder and lightning cannot be generated.

Thunder and lightning is a majestic and somewhat intimidating electrical discharge phenomenon accompanied by lightning and thunder. Thunder and lightning are generally generated in cumulonimbus clouds with strong convection, so they are often accompanied by strong gusts of wind and heavy rain, and sometimes hail and tornadoes.

The top of the cumulonimbus cloud is generally high, up to 20 km, and the upper part of the cloud often has ice crystals. The attachment of ice crystals, the breakage of water droplets, and the slow flow of air against fingers create an electric charge in the clouds.

The distribution of charges in the cloud is more complex, but in general, the upper part of the cloud is dominated by positive charges and the lower part is dominated by negative charges. As a result, a potential difference is formed between the upper and lower parts of the cloud.

When the potential difference reaches a certain level, an electric discharge will be generated, which is our common lightning phenomenon. The average current of lightning is 30,000 amps, and the maximum current can reach 300,000 amps.

The voltage of lightning is high, about 100 million to 1 billion volts. A moderate thunderstorm can reach 10 million watts, which is equivalent to the output of a small nuclear power plant.

During the discharge, due to the sudden increase in temperature in the lightning channel, the volume of air expands dramatically, resulting in a shock wave that causes a strong thunderclap. When a thundercloud with a Weizheng charge comes close to a protrusion on the ground, a violent discharge occurs between them.

At the site of the lightning discharge, there will be a strong flash of light and a roar. This is the lightning and thunder that people see and hear.

Kind:

There are four types of lightning: direct lightning, electromagnetic pulse, spherical lightning, and cloud flash. Among them, direct lightning and spherical lightning will cause harm to people and buildings, while electromagnetic pulse mainly affects electronic equipment, mainly caused by induction; Cloud flashes are the least harmful to humans because they occur between two clouds or on both sides of a cloud.

Direct lightning is to gather a lot of electric charges on the cloud, and a large number of electric charges have to find a channel to vent, sometimes it is a building, sometimes it is an iron tower, sometimes it is a person in an open place.

So these people or objects become a channel for the discharge of electrical charges, and they injure people or buildings. Direct lightning is the most powerful lightning, while spherical lightning is less powerful than direct lightning.

The above content refers to Encyclopedia - Thunder and Lightning.

The reasons for the formation of lightning are as follows:

Thunder and lightning is an atmospheric electrical discharge phenomenon that occurs in cumulonimbus clouds, during which some clouds are positively charged and some are negatively charged. When the charge accumulates to a certain extent, the electric field strength between the clouds of different charges, or between the cloud and the earth, can penetrate the air (generally 25-30kv cm) and begin to discharge freely, which we call "pilot discharge".

The cloud-to-ground pilot discharge is a gradual development of the cloud to the ground, and when it reaches the ground (buildings on the ground, overhead power lines, etc.), it will produce a reverse conductive main discharge from the ground to the cloud. In the main discharge stage, due to the violent neutralization of the opposite charge, there will be a large lightning current (generally only a few thousand amperes to several hundred kiloamperes), followed by strong lightning and loud noises, which forms thunder and lightning.

Classification of lightning and lightning

1. Direct lightning: It is formed by direct discharge of lightning and the ground, trees, towers or other buildings. The energy of this lightning strike is very large, and after the lightning strike, it will generally leave traces such as burning, potholes, and protrusions being cut off.

2. Ball mine: It is a kind of purple or gray-purple rolling mine, which can roll along the ground or float in the air, and can enter the room from the doors and windows, chimneys and other holes, and is easy to occur when encountering human bodies or objects.

3. Induction lightning: refers to induction overvoltage. When lightning strikes near electrical wires or electrical equipment, an overvoltage will be formed due to static electricity and electromagnetic induction. Just because you don't hear thunder doesn't mean you don't have it.

4. Lightning intrusion wave: When lightning occurs, the lightning current generates an impulse voltage through the metal body such as the collapsed overhead wire or the air metal pipeline, and the impulse voltage spreads rapidly with the direction of the metal body, resulting in harm.