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What are some interesting lightning facts? (sciencecards.org)

submitted 2 days ago by stuartml@piefed.social to c/ScienceOnlyFacts@lemmy.world

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Lightning can heat the air it passes through to temperatures of about 30,000 °C (54,000 °F). That is regarded as 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. The discharge process, or return stroke, of the lightning is the most luminous part where the electric current moves through the channel. One observation found that the rate at which the return stroke current traveled was around 100,000 km/s (or one-third the speed of light). Global monitoring indicates that lightning on Earth occurs at an average frequency of approximately 44 (± 5) times per second.

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[–] UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

I have a lightning fact! I am an upper atmosphere physicist and lightning plays a fundamental role in the global electric circuit. Lightning sends charge upward into the ionosphere where the ionosphere distributes the charge horizontally across the globe (Carnegie curve). The return current then trickles down through fair weather regions on Earth, completing the electric circuit!

I have always appreciated how connected all the layers of the atmosphere are. The ionosphere begins between ~60-90km above the surface, yet lightning still affects it!