Question 3

What can Lightning Strikes do?

Ground to cloud lightning can reach from 100 million to one billion volts. That is a lot! But what can that do? Well lightning strikes cast us about 4 to 5 billion dollars a year! It kills around 200 people and severely injuring 750 people. That is more than a usual tornado does. That my seem like a lot but only 20 percent of the people die. On the down side people are twice as likely to die from a lightning strike than a tornado, hurricane, or a flood. Forest fires start easily from lightning. Some 10,000 forest fires are started every year! So stay away from lightning is the best advice.

I got this info from http://www.strikealert.com/LightningFacts.htm

Question 2

Why does lightning always come before thunder?

Have you ever really noticed that thunder no matter what always comes after lightning? Why is this? Well when lighning forms and strikes it can reach anywhere from fifteen to sixty thousand degrees fahrenheit! That's hotter than the sun's surface! So what happens is lightning heats up the air very quickly and when the air is heated up like that, is quickly expands and then contracts. When this happens you hear a very long boom it the strik was near u, but only a little rummble if it far away. You may say well this isn't all true because i have seen lightning but heard no thunder. This is because you were to far away to hear the sound waves.No matter where lighning strikes thunder will always be after it.

I found this info from http://weathereye.kgan.com

Question 1

How is lightning created?

There is around sixteen million lightning storms around the world a year,but how do they form? Well first of all lightning is an atmospheric discharge that is followed by thunder.You may think lightning is formed because its raining or thundering, but that's not how. Lightning can occur in ash clouds when there is a volcanic eruption or a very violent forest fire. A forest fire would cause sufficient dust to create a static charge. Another way lightning is created is by water freezing to hail inside of a cloud, then being blown in the wind. The wind smashes the hail together, separating positive and negative charges. When there are enough negative charges lightning will be formed and strike the tallest thing near it. It is still a debate on how all of this actually creates lightning, but it does.


I got this info from http://wikipedia.org