Physics is considered both an interesting and a fundamental science. He studies the universe itself and tries to reveal the inaccessible secrets of nature despite the complexity of such studies. There are still many unsolved secrets of nature. One of the infinite forces of nature is lightning.

Thunderstorms, monstrously powerful electrical discharges in the clouds have attracted the attention of people since ancient times, and they remained a mystery for a long time, until their nature was discovered by mankind. It turned out that lightning is observed not only on Earth, but also on Jupiter.

Research shows that more than 2,000 lightning strikes different points of the Earth at any given moment. Every second, about 50 lightning strikes fall on the surface of the Earth, and on average, every square kilometer of it is struck by  lightning  six times a year.

The famous American scientist Benjamin Franklin showed that lightning is electric discharges that transfer several tens of coulombs of negative charge, and the amplitude of the current during a lightning strike varies from 20 to 100 kA.

The most obvious example of wireless transmission of energy in nature is lightning. Lightning occurs when the voltage between the cloud and the ground exceeds U = 100,000,000 V. A strong electric field ionizes air molecules. Negative ions are directed towards the earth, and positive ions are directed towards the cloud. As a result, a conductive channel is formed between the cloud and the ground. Through this channel, electrical energy is directed towards the ground in the form of lightning.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Earth’s electric field was measured using atmospheric probes. The intensity of the Earth’s surface turned out to be about 100 V/M, which means that the total charge of the planet Earth is about 400,000 Kl.

In the Earth’s atmosphere, charge carriers are ions, their concentration increases with altitude, reaching a maximum at an altitude of 50 km. Here, under the influence of cosmic rays, an electrically conductive layer is formed – the ionosphere. Therefore, the Earth’s electric field is equivalent to the area of a spherical capacitor with a voltage of about 400 kV. The existence of the Earth’s electric field is associated with lightning. Therefore, in good weather, the Earth discharges its charge as an electrical capacitor, and when lightning strikes, it is charged.

The reason why people do not feel the earth’s electric field is the distribution of the earth’s charge in the human body. The positive charge of each hair on the head of a person standing under a storm cloud increases by the same amount and they repel each other.

But how the clouds are loaded? Let’s take a look at the composition of the cloud. A thunderstorm cloud is a large amount of water vapor, partly made up of small water droplets or ice that has condensed. The height of such a cloud is 6-7 km, and its height from the ground can be 0.5-1 km. Above 3-4 km from the low points of the cloud, it consists of ice piles of different sizes. Pieces of ice are in constant motion. This is caused by hot air currents rising from the Earth’s surface.

As a result of friction, large pieces of ice are negatively charged, and small ones are positively charged.

The presence of breakdown voltage is important for lightning to occur.

By itself, the cloud is not capable of creating a charge that will reach the breakdown voltage. The intensity of the electric field in storm clouds never exceeds 400 kV/m. Intensity for electric discharge in air should be greater than 2500kV/m. Therefore, something else must be present in addition to the electric field for lightning to occur.

In 1992, Russian scientist A. Gurevich came to the idea that cosmic rays may play a role in the formation of lightning. According to him, cosmic rays colliding with the air molecule ionize it and as a result produce a large number of high-energy electrons. Electrons falling into the electric field between the cloud and the ground are accelerated to the speed of light and ionize the path they travel, creating an electron flood. This electron flood is used for discharge by lightning.

Lightning is not a bright straight line connecting the cloud to the ground, but consists of broken lines. The reason for the formation of these “steps” is that electrons reaching a speed close to the speed of light collide with air molecules and change the direction of movement. Formation of characteristic steps is also observed in X-rays.

Recent studies have shown that lightning is a fairly powerful source of X-ray radiation, the intensity of which can be up to 250,000 electron volts.

In the 1990s, scientists learned how to create lightning. To do this, they blow a small rocket directly into a lightning cloud. The rocket ionizes the air along its entire trajectory, thereby creating a conductive channel between the cloud and the Earth.

To protect against Lightning, both wave transmitters and a liquid column are used. A liquid column is a salt water solution with the addition of a liquid polymer in its composition: The Salt is intended to increase electrical conductivity, and the polymer is intended to prevent the water jet from separating in the form of droplets. In addition, a laser beam is used.

Lightning played a major role in the formation of life on earth. So, in 1953, biochemists S.Miller (Stanley Miller) and Q.Urey (Harold Urey) found that when carrying out an electrical discharge in water, it is possible to obtain one of the “building materials” of life – amino acids. And this is the first stage in the formation of life.

In addition, when the bacteria are affected by short current pulses, the opening of pores in the membrane creates conditions for the passage of DNA fragments of other bacteria. And this is the launch of one of the mechanisms of evolution.

During a lightning discharge, 109-1010 C of energy is released. Most of it is used to create the shock wave, heat the air, generate lightning and other electromagnetic waves, and only a small part is given to the place where the lightning enters the ground. But even this “small” part is enough to start a fire, kill a person, and destroy a building. The temperature in its channel can be up to 30,000°C. This is five times the temperature on the surface of the Sun.

The most powerful thunderstorms cause the formation of fulgurites – hollow cylinders of molten sand.

Sayings about lightning have been also reflected Khuran.

Lightning falls to earth at a very large speed of 96000 km/h, Lightning reaches the collision point and the Earth’s surface in 20 millieconds, returns in 70 mk seconds. Lightning lasts only half a second. A sudden increase in temperature around Lightning causes thunderstorms.

With each lightning strike, 190 kg of ozone is formed.

Lightning also has a role in generating nitrogen, which is very beneficial for plants. The flash of lightning means that the rain will revive nature, or cause disasters. It is possible that in the near future the use of lightning as green energy will begin.

Shamsiyya Mustafayeva

F23 Group student