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Lightning is visible as a flash of light because of both incandescence (due to its high temperature it glows blue-white) and luminescence (excitation of nitrogen gas in the atmosphere). Nitrogen, the dominant gas in the atmosphere, is excited by this strong flow of energy, its electrons moving to higher energy states.
Why can I see lightning but no thunder?
If you see lightning but don’t hear thunder, it is because the thunder is too far away. What we see as a lightning strike actually comes from the ground up, according to NOAA. Typically, a cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of (invisible) negative electricity towards the ground.
Why is there lightning but no rain?
Dry thunderstorm refers to thunder and lightning that occur without bringing rain to the ground. In fact, the thunder-bearing clouds do produce rain but the rain droplets have evaporated in the air before reaching the ground. The anvil cloud is so high that rain coming from it evaporates before reaching the ground.
Why is thunder so loud?
A big noise Why is thunder so loud? It’s because the amount of electrical energy that flows from the cloud to the ground is so enormous: it’s like a very big waterfall of electricity. The louder the sound that you hear, the closer you are to the lightning. Light travels through air much faster than sound.
What are the 4 types of lightning?
Types of Lightning Cloud-to-Ground (CG) Lightning. Negative Cloud-to-Ground Lightning (-CG) Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning (+CG) Cloud-to-Air (CA) Lightning. Ground-to-Cloud (GC) Lightning. Intracloud (IC) Lightning.
What are the 3 types of lightning?
There are three common types of lightning: cloud to ground, cloud to cloud and cloud to air. Cloud to ground lightning is the most dangerous. The ground is mainly consisted of positively charged particles while the bottom of violent storm clouds have negative charged particles.
Is heat lightning a real thing?
Turns out, what some people call heat lightning is just lightning from a far-off storm. According to the Weather Channel, the human eye can see lightning up to 100 miles away, but the human ear can only hear thunder if it’s within 10 to 15 miles of the storm.
Can lightning strike a car?
NO! Like trees, houses, and people, anything outside is at risk of being struck by lightning when thunderstorms are in the area, including cars. The lightning will then pass through the vehicle’s outer metal shell, then through the tires to the ground.
Does lightning cause fire?
Lightning plays an outsized role in wildfires: More than 40% of wildfires in the West, largely in places other than California, were caused by lightning, and those fires accounted for more than 70% of the acreage burned between 1992 and 2015, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Where does lightning strike the most?
The most lightning-struck location in the world Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the place on Earth that receives the most lightning strikes. Massive thunderstorms occur on 140-160 nights per year with an average of 28 lightning strikes per minute lasting up to 10 hours at a time.
Can you get hurt by thunder?
Lightning can kill people (3,696 deaths were recorded in the U.S. between 1959 and 2003) or cause cardiac arrest. Injuries range from severe burns and permanent brain damage to memory loss and personality change.
What was the loudest thunder ever recorded?
The explosion was loud enough that this level of noise was recorded many miles away from the site of the blast. A sound of 174 decibels was recorded by barometers 100 miles from Krakatoa. That meant anyone within an 100 mile radius of Krakatoa had a chance of being literally deafened by this sound.
Why is lightning so bright?
Lightning is visible as a flash of light because of both incandescence (due to its high temperature it glows blue-white) and luminescence (excitation of nitrogen gas in the atmosphere). Nitrogen, the dominant gas in the atmosphere, is excited by this strong flow of energy, its electrons moving to higher energy states.
Why is the lightning green?
Green lightning does indicate that the cloud is extremely tall, and because thunderclouds are the tallest clouds, green is a warning sign that large hail or a tornado is on the way. Spewing an ash cloud into the atmosphere. Volcanic ash often contains lightning bolts, a phenomenon known as volcanic lightning.
What color lightning is the strongest?
White – this is by far one of the most dangerous color of lightning due to the fact that this type of lightning is the hottest. This color can indicate a low concentration of moisture in the air as well as a high concentration of dust in the air.
What is the weakest color of lightning?
The color of the bolt depends on how hot it is; the hotter the lightning, the closer the color will be to the end of the spectrum. The color spectrum in this case start with infared which is red and the coolest up to ultraviolet which appears violet and is the hottest.
What is the rarest type of lightning?
ball lightning, also called globe lightning, a rare aerial phenomenon in the form of a luminous sphere that is generally several centimetres in diameter. It usually occurs near the ground during thunderstorms, in close association with cloud-to-ground lightning.
Is lightning hotter than the sun?
In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun). When lightning strikes a tree, the heat vaporizes any water in its path possibly causing the tree to explode or a strip of bark to be blown off.
Does lightning make noise?
Thunder is the sound caused by a nearby flash of lightning and can be heard for a distance of only about 10 miles from the lightning strike. This rapid expansion and contraction creates the sound wave that we hear as thunder.
