Lightning flashes travel at the speed of light, which is just over 1,079,000,000 km/h. Lightning itself travels much slower, almost 434,000,000 km/h to be exact. Here are some more interesting facts about lightning.
10 facts about lightning
- When lightning strikes, strange patterns called “Lichtenberg figures” appear on the skin.
- When lightning strikes sand or sandy soil, the grains of sand fuse together to form a small “glass” tube known as fulgurite.
- Lightning is quite hot. Its temperature is almost 30,000 degrees Celsius. It is about five times hotter than the surface of the Sun!
- Helicopters cause thunderstorms. A recent study by the Bureau of Meteorology showed that a helicopter generates a negative charge when it flies, so when it passes near a positively charged area (such as the base of a cumulonimbus cloud), it can cause a lightning strike.
- There are volcanic lightning strikes, but they are quite rare. When an eruption occurs, the ground and ash rise into the air in a giant plume, creating an electrical charge. Just like normal lightning, the imbalance between the electrical charge of volcanic emissions and the charge of the atmosphere leads to lightning strikes.
- Not only does lightning strike the same places more than once, but it can strike more than one place at the same time.
- Lightning kills more men than women. According to the National Weather Service, between 2016 and 2019, nearly 80 percent of those killed by lightning strikes were men.
- Lightning once restored a man’s sight. American Edwin Robinson went blind in a car accident in 1971. Nine years later, he was struck by lightning, causing the man to lose consciousness for 20 minutes. Upon waking up, Robinson found his sight had returned.
- Every year there are up to 1,400,000,000 flashes around the world, more than 3,000,000 flashes every day, which is about 44 flashes per second.
- Nearly 2,000 people die each year from this natural electrical charge. Hundreds of people survive the shocks but suffer a host of persistent symptoms, including memory loss, numbness, dizziness and weakness. Strokes can cause cardiac arrest and severe burns, but 9 out of 10 people survive. The average European has about a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning.
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