Lightning Zapped

Yes it is time to blog a little in general on lightning the most efficient killer nature has.
Lightning is electricity which was first studied around 1600 by William Gilbert who was a
physician for Queen Elizabeth the 1st His experiments were with amber and glass. He noticed when they were rubbed together
(friction)light bodies would be attracted between the two, he gave these light bodies the name "Electrics" which was taken from a Greek word meaning AMBER...The most famous studies in history was in 1746 when Ben Franklin discovered positive and negative charges (polarity)He proved this with Kites that we had electricity in our atmosphere .Franklin invented the lightning rod in 1757..Years later around 1770 a house protected by one of his rods was hit by lightning and the house received no damage.

Lightning comes in various forms
Forked: Cloud to ground the most common form
Cloud to Cloud when the lightning occurs between a negative base of a cloud to a positive charged top of a cloud.
Ribbon: Occurs when wind disrupts the channel the elasticity is to flow
Sheet lightning: When you see the light from lightning from a distant thunderstorm and hear the thunder but don’t see the visible stroke .
St Elmo’s Fire : A bright glow that remains as the negative charges drain away as a thunderstorm moves overhead.
Ball lightning: the least understood of all. It is a ball of lightning that actually falls to the ground and rolls and sometimes into houses through the electrical systems when it finally grounds it pops like a soap bubble.
Heat Lightning: Lightning from a thunderstorm too far away to hear the thunder but you see the flash
Bolt From The Blue: the most deadly form of lightning happens when electricity arcs from the top of the anvil in a thunderstorm to the ground many miles behind the storm these are also called "Super bolts" In most cases the storm has passed the rain has stopped and the sky’s are blue. Hence the name. People think the storm is over then return to their outside activity only to get ZAPPED...

You can make lightning yourself it is the same principal as static electricity when you rub your feet on carpet and touch something metal...Lightning between the cloud and the ground works this way.

.Lightning is a series of several strokes the first being a stepped leader stroke which develops a path from the cloud to the ground sometimes the channels lead nowhere which explains why lightning forks eventually a path is developed from the cloud to the ground and lightning happens..
Once the stepped leader stroke develops a conducting channel to the ground you get the "Return Streamer" which is a discharge of electricity from the ground to the cloud. This stroke is more brilliant than the leader stroke and is the observed stroke we see. An average of three leader strokes and three return stokes occur in one conducting channel..

Thunder is the result of lightning expanding the air faster than the speed of sound therefore it is a series of sonic booms...

Lightning kills more people in the United States than any other weather event the annual average is 198 deaths. SO take it seriously...Stay indoors away from electrical appliances and plumbing until the storm passes..

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Took these the other night. Pictures taken between 9:30 and 10 PM.



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WOW Scout......is that of the SAL coming in from the Atlantic?

Lucy, those are my attempt at pictures of lightning. Trying to get one like the picture Gome posted on Sea's blog. Haven't been that lucky yet.

Hey scout, LOL. I bet your neighbors think your nut like mine do. They see me all the time filming with my Iphone during lightning storms. I need to make a youtube and post it. The Iphone does not capture the close up flashes to well as it just whites out my screen.

Your pick almost looks like the sun through clouds. Show you how bright those flashes were.

E, I think iphone shutter speed is too slow. Hubby tells me that if I keep up with my new little hobby, he will buy me a much better camera to try with, so I guess I'll be out in a lot more lightening storms. Hey wait, why did he ask me if my life insurance was paid up the other day.

Hey scouter keep trying..I have wasted more batteries than can be imagined trying to catch lightning:)..I need a better camera or a smarter operator?..lol