Lightning (nonfiction)

Lightning striking the Eiffel Tower, June 3, 1902, at 9:20 P.M. This is one of the earliest photographs of lightning in an urban setting.

Lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge during an electrical storm between electrically charged regions of a cloud (called intra-cloud lightning or IC), between that cloud and another cloud (CC lightning), or between a cloud and the ground (CG lightning).

Description

The charged regions in the atmosphere temporarily equalize themselves through this discharge referred to as a strike if it hits an object on the ground, and a flash if it occurs within a cloud.

Lightning causes light in the form of plasma, and sound in the form of thunder.

Lightning may be seen and not heard when it occurs at a distance too great for the sound to carry as far as the light from the strike or flash.

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Electricity (nonfiction)
• Light (nonfiction)

Fiction cross-reference

• Rumbustious lightning

External links

• Lightning @ Wikipedia