this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2026
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What are some interesting lightning facts? (sciencecards.org)
submitted 1 day 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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[–] canatella@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Lightning could be triggered by particles coming from stars exploding somewhere in our universe: https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-causes-lightning-the-answer-keeps-getting-more-interesting-20260506/