The Importance Of Lighting

Submitted By iouren
Words: 369
Pages: 2

Lighting doesn’t strike twice (in the same spot/location?)
How Lighting works Lighting is caused by the build up of electrostatic charge in clouds, and the “lighting” itself is a visual of a sudden down surge of electrons jumping to the ground. Although it is not exactly known why, the negative charge that builds up in clouds collects at the bottom. This causes the negative charges in the ground to be forced away from the surface, and thereby causing the upper layer of ground to be positively charged. This negative charges at the bottom of the cloud are repelled as a streamer and are attracted to the positively charged ground. As the negative streamer approaches the ground, a positively charged streamer is attracted towards the negatively charged approaching streamer. When the streamers do connect, it is a conductive pathway. This conductive pathway allows a sudden down surge of electrons to go to the ground (Wagon 1999). This surge is what is commonly seen as lighting. The “light” or “flash” is because the electrons excite the air along the pathway that it emits light. Lighting is attracted to taller objects usually because there is a concentration of the electrical field in that area. If examining a typical field map, a object of a higher elevation would have closer field lines, implying a stronger electric field strength. The stronger the field, the more likely it is that electrons will be forced out of the could and attracted to the ground at that location.
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