Thunder and Lightning - A Deadly Combination

What is lightning?
Lightning is a large charge of electricity that can reach from clouds to the ground or to other clouds. Lightning is strong enough to start fires a cause serious damage to trees and building stricture, but lightning is also beneficial to plant life by putting nitrogen in the ground.

The action of rising and descending air within a thunderstorm separates positive and negative charges. Water and ice particles also affect the distribution of the electrical charge; lightning forms from the buildup and discharge of energy between these charge areas.

There are thousands of lightning strikes across the planet every day; striking somewhere on earth approximately 100 times a second. Lightning takes more lives than by any other kind of storm killing more than 1,000 people in a year, as well as very many who survive the strike but are badly injured.

Lightning can strike anywhere on Earth. Lightning can strike as far as 10 miles away from a storm and up to 15 or more miles away from a cloud. So, if there is blue sky above you and it is not raining, you still might not be safe if you can see or hear a storm in the distance. There is also what is called "dry lightning." That is when lightning strikes from a cloud that is not making rain. Dry lightning often causes forest fires because there is no rain to stop a fire from spreading. An average flash of lightning can illuminate a 100 watt light bulb for more than 12 weeks!

What is thunder?
Thunder is the name used to describe the sonic shock wave caused by the fast heating and expansion of the air surrounding and within a bolt of lightning. The bolt changes the air into plasma and it instantly explodes, causing the sound known as thunder.

Thunder occurs at the same time as a lightning strike, but a thunder is usually heard after we see lightning because light travels at 290,000 kilometers per second and sound travels slower at around 1,100 kilometers per hour.

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