WEBVTT - How Lightning Works 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should Know 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:43.880 from House Stuff Works dot Com? M Hey, and welcome 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.560 to the podcast. That is a pretty mellow intron. I'm Josh. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.199 That's Chuck that makes stuff you should know. That's Jim Morrison, Yes, 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.960 it was. That was the doors Riders on the Storm. 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.480 We have Jim in the studio with us today. Yeah, Hey, Jim, 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.160 did you ever see that gap ad where they show 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.320 Jim Morrison off that and old? No, it was a 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.280 while ago, like probably ten years ago. They did some 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.559 of these sixties icons that passed away early as old people, 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.560 and like, really realistically, it's pretty funny. Yeah, I don't 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.039 recall that at all. And I've watched a lot of 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.000 TV where I used to I think it was a 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.000 magazine and pronounce oh, I read a lot of magazines. 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.320 Oh Fair used to alert for, used to alert um. So. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.200 Riders on the Storm was released on the nineteen seventy 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.280 one album Ellie Woman, which we would imagine is available 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:33.360 at a wide variety of retailers online and at break 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.600 and mortar stores. Yeah. Great song. Yeah, and I'm kind 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:37.880 of over a lot of the Doors. But I like 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.200 that song, man, I go It's like, how I imagine 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.480 a lot of people are with Zeppelin. It's like, oh, 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.480 I love Zeppelin. I'm in sixth grade. Um, and then 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:48.160 it just kind of goes away. But then you get 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.920 older and you're like, wow, they really were great. That 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:52.720 didn't happen to be with Zeppelin. I got over him 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.280 after sixth grade, you know that. But the Doors, that's 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.520 happened to me. You're back into them again. Well, I 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.040 mean I just constantly am like in a state of 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.920 coming in or out of really appreciating the Doors. But 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.880 for the most part it's solidified as jelled. I love 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:07.680 the Doors. You know, if you want to keep that intact, 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:09.840 do yourself a favor and don't ever read any of 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.400 Jim Morrison's poetry books. I have I have. Have you 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.680 ever heard American Prayer? It's like one of the coolest 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:20.320 things anyone's ever made. I'm not a fan of his poetry. Well, 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.400 I mean, his songs were poetry. Writers on the Storm 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.040 is a poem set to music. He's the Lizard King. Yeah, 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.480 you can do anything, right, Um, So Chuck, have you 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.359 heard of a guy named Roy Sullivan. Yeah, I remember 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.120 him from being a kid, do you really Yeah? From 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.840 the old Guinness Book Record. Uh huh. I must have 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.280 skipped over his entry because I've read those two. I 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.040 remember when they come out and you'd be like, oh 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.160 my god. It would be like the Scholastic Book Fair, 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.040 which amounted to a couple of like cards with books 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.800 on him out the hallway and some guy who didn't 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.919 recognize standing there selling them. Um. I missed that one, 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.880 but let's tell everybody else. I haven't looked him up 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.320 since then, but if I remember correctly, he had the 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.760 record for being struck right lightning. Yeah, Roy Sullivan. He 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:08.079 was a ranger park ranger at Shenandoah National Park, okay 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.359 um and he died in Night three. In between nineteen 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:16.720 forty and nineteen seventy seven, he was struck seven times, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.800 struck by lightning seven times. And actually there's two of 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.000 his rangers stets and hats that he was wearing while 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:26.560 he was struck that are in the Guinness World Record. 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.440 I guess museums and they have like burnt holes in them, right, yeah, 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.200 Well you're just smiling. I remember seeing the picture. I 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.080 could picture it in my head. He did not die 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.520 of being struck by lightning. He died what a full 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.080 six years after the last time he was struck. Yeah, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.560 from like plugging in something in his house and getting shocked. 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.520 He's like stripped on a banana peal Right, um, so 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:52.839 it's it's I guess I bring this up because we're 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.480 talking about lightning, and you brought up a really excellent 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.400 point that his stets and hat was burned, but this 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.440 guy survived. Even the lightning is many, many, many times 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:07.880 more powerful than you know, a typical industrial electrocution voltage 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:12.920 that will just typically kill anybody. Lightning frequently people survive. 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:14.520 As a matter of fact, like two thirds of people 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:19.760 who are struck by lightning survive between two thirds depending 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:24.039 on who you ask. That's pretty good. So I am 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.760 very excited about this one. Classic. I love natural phenomena. 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.440 I do too. I love earth sciences. I don't know 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:34.920 I do because I get it. Once you get it, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:39.400 it's like geometry, Like once you get geometry, you can't 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.320 get geometry, and all of a sudden, this whole segment 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.880 of of the of nature just becomes clear to you. Well, 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.440 I'm glad you're covering this side of the love because 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.120 I don't have it. You don't know. I mean, I 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.680 think it's neat enough, but I'm not I'm not as 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.040 into the earth sciences at the very least. The pictures 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.800 in this article are really, really awesome. Did you get 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.760 to see some of them? I mean those are pretty, 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.680 very pretty black and whiten. That's still worth looking at 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.320 that all those leaders If you want to go, if 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.320 you want to go to the website how stuff Works 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.320 dot com and type and lightning, it will bring up 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.880 a lot of these pictures, but in color. We just 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:20.120 don't print in color here occasionally, But do you if 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.400 it's something that I think should be in color, I 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:27.400 like to preserve Cian go Alright, So Chuck, let's talk lightning, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:31.760 shall we? Sure you got your statman role? Did you 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.359 read that one thing? The NASA article. There's some stats 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.320 in there that I thought you'd just have a bonanza with. 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.560 I didn't get to it. Oh, buddy, all right, I'll 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:41.960 play the stat man role there because there there were 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:43.640 some good stats in there. Do you want me to 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:50.640 start out with a few, Chuck? I between between this 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:56.760 one's study of lightning strikes between ninety found that let's 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.760 see nine thousand, eight hundred and eighteen people were struck 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:02.800 by lightning in that time. Three thousand, two hundred and 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:07.680 thirty nine died died immediately like it was like, you're 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:11.320 just struck by lightning. You're over. Um that that's got 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.640 to be like a direct strike, right, all of them 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.719 are direct strikes as far as I understand, Yes, we're 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.160 all direct strikes. Like you can be struck directly like uh, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:26.640 ranger Roy and he survived. Um. Men are four times 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:32.000 likelier than women to be struck by lightning. Um. The 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.040 two thirds of lightning casualties occurred between twelve pm and 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:39.839 four pm, with the maximum at four pm. Yes. Uh, 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.240 most of the most lightning casualties happened on a Sunday 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.240 or with and Wednesday is the second most frequent day, 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:49.840 and then July is the peak month. Florida is the 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.599 state that has the most reported lightning strikes for people. 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.800 So if it's four pm on a Wednesday in July 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.880 and you're in Florida, uh, and you're a man holding 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:06.280 like a golf club, kiss your but combining the good 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:10.600 Lord would never stop the best game of golf, I think, Uh. 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.040 I remember in a different podcast, we talked about the 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.600 fourth of July actually being the number one day. I 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:18.640 think I remember that as well, and I think that's 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:21.400 part and partial to the fact that July is the 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.240 biggest month and there are way more people outside recreating 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.120 your bodies of water on the fourth of July, which 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.560 you know, water of course could help. Yeah. I knew 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:35.600 this dude who public who actually printed the the alternative 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.120 paper that I helped found, and uh, he would say 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.960 that he was vacating. We're gonna vacate for two weeks 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:43.840 to me and the family every going down to Disney 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.480 World to vacake. That's pretty funny. The only little cool 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:53.120 factoids I have are lightning is not necessarily always white 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.360 or white ash yellow and has to do with the background. Yeah, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:01.160 and that lightning is only an inch y Yeah. I 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.760 saw it was one to two inches in diameter. Yeah, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.440 that's it. And it's hot six degrees or six times 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.720 hotter than the surface of the sun. I saw sixty. Yeah, 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.440 I'd say that's in the same range. I mean, that's 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.840 six that's not much when you're up that I yeah, 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:24.160 it'll fry an egg for sure. Um, So you you 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.800 say that there are some cool fact toys associated with lightning. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.200 I say that lightning as a whole is one cool 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:36.319 factoid made up of smaller component factoids. Yea. And also 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.040 I'm sure somebody's can be like you guys used the 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:44.120 word factoid wrong, but we will decimate that person alright. Uh, 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.360 do we need to start with with clouds since we've 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.280 covered that so thoroughlier. I feel like we do because 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.200 with this process of cloud formation it is part and 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.000 parcel with lightning formation. They think we should really point 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.040 out here, man that it's not just this article, it's 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.640 not just how stuff works. That says that scientists aren't 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.040 really sure how all this happens. Um NASA says, so 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:10.600 the the um, oh, what's the what's the National Laboratory 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:15.959 begins with the A. Man, well, anyway, one of the 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:20.079 National Laboratory says though that I write about UM. So basically, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.880 we don't fully understand how lightning forms, but it's invisible. 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.040 We have some good guesses it occurs within the second 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.120 So it's like, it's not the easiest thing in the 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.600 world to study. No, it's really not, you know about it. 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.560 We can recreate it, which is pretty neat. Okay, so UM. 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.160 But yes, let's start with precipitation in the water cycle. Right, 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:42.400 You've got um water say here on the Earth's surface. Um, 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:46.160 when heat is transferred from the environment, remember he always 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.320 goes from something that's warm to something that's cold. That's 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:53.000 how heat transfer occurs. Something doesn't lose its cold, it 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.320 gains heat, right, that's right. Um. So when that happens, 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.679 water can vaporize and rise up into the atmosphere. That's 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.720 a VA operation. And once it reaches a certain point, 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.280 it's going to lose its heat to the external environment. 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.680 It's gonna turn back into water. It's gonna fall back 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.120 down to the ground. In the foreign precipitation, that's condensation, right, 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.560 So it's either going to get slightly chilly and be rained, 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.800 or it's gonna get really chilly and the snow or 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.080 freezing rain. Right. So, if you get enough water vapor 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.720 going up, and you get enough um condensation starting to 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.360 come down and they start knocking into each other. This 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:32.559 is what scientists think. Um, they can start knocking electrons 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.760 from one another. The electrons are gonna keep going down, 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.640 They're going to um stay say as a cloud forms, 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.560 they're gonna they're gonna accumulate around the bottom of the 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:47.200 cloud like a little, a little puffy cloud couch there 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.480 that at the bottom of the clouds all tuck the 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.280 just settle in and nestle down. And then for for 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:56.760 just for this um example sake, think of positively charged particles, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.800 the ones that are now missing their electrons um are 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:02.599 just lighter, so they're gonna accumulate at the top, but 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:04.880 they're contained in the cloud. Right. So at the top 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.319 of the cloud you have all these positively charged particles, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:11.280 at the bottom you have negatively charged particles electrons, and 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:13.960 all of a sudden you have what's called an electric 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:18.440 field charge separation, which is uh, can do some funky stuff. Well, 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.800 that's how batteries work because chuck, as you'll remember, nature 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:27.600 loves homeostasis. Yeah, if it's these things are separate, they 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.439 just want to bring them back together exactly. Electrons love 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.920 to flow toward the direction of positively charged particles to 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.920 neutralize it. And that's an electric charge. It's electricity is 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.960 just an electron flow. Okay, So you have a cloud 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.320 that's suddenly like a battery, a big honkin battery. Yeah, 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:50.200 and um as this as this uh, this charge separation 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.440 becomes more and more charged like that, there's more and 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.800 more positive particles, more and more negative particles. It actually, 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.600 as these negative particles are the electrons are accumulating at 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.480 the bottom of the cloud, they the charge can become 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.120 so great that here on the Earth's surface, dude, it 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.480 actually presses the electrons down into the earth. Yeah. And 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.040 it's hard to imagine this, but it happens when you're 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.200 walking around out there during a thunderstorm, like it is 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.840 being pushed below your feet, leaving the ground positively charged 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.760 and ready to join their little buddies up there in 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.920 the clouds. So you have this layer of electrons and 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.240 now you have to basically two electric fields that can 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.000 either go up within the cloud or it can go 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:38.480 down to the ground. Yeah, that's a common like that 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.160 was my first question was if these electrons within the 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.040 cloud are separated, why are they going all the way 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.320 down to Earth. Why don't they just you know, have 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:48.960 lightning inside the cloud. And the answer is, well, that 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.199 happens all the time. That's the most common form of lightning, uh, 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.559 is when the electrons form lightning within it's a little 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:57.839 fluffy buddy there with It's like cloud to cloud or 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:02.440 intra cloud lightning. Intra cloud is within the same cloud 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.200 between two clouds, but it's it's still falls in the 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.400 cloud to cloud category. So I think there's two main division, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:13.520 cloud to cloud and cloud to ground, and then ground 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.400 to cloud is also ground to cloud still, but it's 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.120 not because it's going between the ground and cloud or 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.680 between a cloud and itself for another cloud. Yeah, I 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.400 like a little cloud on cloud action this one. Okay, 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.160 So you have this um do you have the Earth 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.320 suddenly taking on a positive charge on its surface. You 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.000 have a strong negative charge at the bottom of the um, 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.880 at the bottom of the cloud, and you have nature 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.880 going like what's to do? This is terrible, Like there's 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.280 an electrical potential here and it's making me nervous. Like 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:48.280 something has to change. So something does change. There's this 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:53.400 process called the ionization of air, and it's basically turning 0:13:53.440 --> 0:14:00.000 air into what's called plasma by ripping it apart essentially. Yeah, 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:04.000 like to call it ionic separation. Up coined that term nice. 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.520 I don't know if it's what anyone else in science 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:12.479 calls it, but basically the air around the cloud breaks down, so, uh, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.080 the electric field is really strong. It separates the ions. 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:19.000 Now they can move a lot more freely and can 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.520 conduct a lot more electricity. Well, yeah, it takes regular 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.120 air like the stuff we're breathing now, and it separates 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:28.960 the electrons from the positive ions. Yeah, but not they're 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:32.680 still within the same area. They're not like completely separate, right, 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:36.120 It's not like it's not like um opening the curtains 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.000 with two hands, but it is kind of in a 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.880 certain way. With these free electrons, it makes this little 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.560 bit of air that that's been ionized much more conductive, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.200 like you said, plasma. Okay, so these things this happens 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:54.400 in little like fifty yard jolts, and they call those 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:58.080 step leaders. Each little each little rip, each little separation 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.320 of creation. The plasma creates a channel in the air 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.640 that it's very conductive, way more conductive than the surrounding air. 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:08.680 And it happened a little fifty yard branches. Yeah, and 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.000 they don't have to go straight down. They're basically looking 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.560 they're looking to get to the ground with a path 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.320 of least resistance. So if you see this. Discovery had 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.440 a show did you see that on YouTube? The what 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.280 was it called Raging Planet. Discovery had a show called raging, 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.160 and for the first time they filmed a lightning strike 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.080 in the super slow mow. So when you see this 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.400 like with your naked eye, I mean it all happens 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:35.360 in a blip and you see a lightning strike. But 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.520 when you see it slowed down, you see the lightning 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:40.680 working its way down in the little fifty yard bits 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.440 and fracturing off to the left and to the right 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.720 and basically like disappearing again because it didn't find its 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.200 way all the way to the ground. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.640 it would just go like so left and then disappear, 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:54.480 and then it'll go down, and then it'll go to 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:59.160 the right and disappear. These channels that that form. Basically 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.320 you have a bunch of the step leaders coming down 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.960 and whichever reaches the ground first winds. But just because 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.880 one reach the ground doesn't mean the other ones automatically disappear. 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.360 So that flow of electrons is going to fill up 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:19.160 all of the associated um ion channels UM with this 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:23.080 flow of electrons, right, So um, before that happens, though, 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:25.600 you've got these step leaders coming down from the clouds, 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:30.920 you also have something called um positive leaders, right, it's 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.760 positive streamers. I'm sorry. You also have positive streamers coming 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.920 up from the ground. So a positive streamer is a 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:43.520 or a step leader is a plasma channel forming in 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:47.040 the direction of the flow of electrons. A positive streamer 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.440 is a plasma channel forming in the opposite direction of 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:52.960 the flow of electrons. So it's kind of stretching up. 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:54.760 And it could come from the ground, it could come 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.360 from your head, it could come from a tree or 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:00.640 that golf club you're holding. And they've captured these in 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.640 photographic form, and it's the same thing. It looks like, 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.119 you know, a little purplish bolt of lightning coming up 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.400 from the ground trying to join up with its buddy 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.560 that's coming down from the sky. Yeah. And like you said, 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.320 I it can come from you. The reason your hair 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.119 lifts up when you're in like an electrical storm, you 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:19.520 just become a positive streamer, which is not good. It 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.480 sounds nice, it does, and you're glowing a little purplish, 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:25.280 but you're in big trouble if it connects with you. Yeah, 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.479 And it's the same concept. If you've ever uh shocked 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.679 yourself on a door knob, it's the same thing. The 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.120 closer you're and once you've built up that energy, the 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.840 hand gets closer to the metal, and it leaps out 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.320 from your finger and out from the door knob, and 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.479 you know you've got lightning. Okay, So I mean we're 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.560 drawing this out like I'm about to hyperventilate and I'm 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:48.000 so excited. Finally, at one point you have a step leader, 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.760 and like you said, it's taken the path of least resistance, right, 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:53.679 So it's not going to come straight down, largely because 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:55.879 the shape of the cloud is not equal or is 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:58.359 not totally flat. Particles in the air can get in 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.600 the way, all kinds of stuff, right, So, um, they're 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.280 coming down in little branches that branch off suddenly nowhere. 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:07.239 Eventually one comes down and a step leader connects with 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.080 a positive streamer, and all of a sudden, you have 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:15.280 a full uninterrupted path for these electrons to flow, and 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:19.040 boy do they flow. What you have is lightning, right. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.800 You have a sudden current exchange from the cloud down 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.320 to the earth and then from the earth back up 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.120 to the cloud. Because the lightning stroke isn't just from 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.600 the cloud to the ground. It goes down and then 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.120 back up immediately and it's on the back up. Yeah, 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.760 return stroke, Yes, a return stroke. Thank you. On the 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.760 way back up. That's when you see the light literally, 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:47.040 so lightning is we we don't actually see the electron flow. 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:51.080 We see the local effects of the electron flow. And um, 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.719 this electron flow produces a tremendous amount of heat energy 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.239 Like what did you say? It was like hotter than 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.880 the surface of the sun, six times hotter. So that's 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.880 that's what you're seeing, right. There is an explosion of heat, right, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.199 and then that heat actually explodes the air around it, 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:13.080 and that produces thunder. Yeah. Um, the way I understood 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:18.120 it was the channel, the ionized plasma channel that's created 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.679 when it goes away, the air collapsing back in on 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.720 itself is what creates that sound, that sound wave? Is 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:28.120 that right? What I heard was that it's actually exploding 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:32.120 outward and it's compressing the air, basically exploding the air 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.879 around it. That converts into a shock wave in the 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.200 form of sound that travels outward. That's how I understood it. Well, 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:42.560 maybe it collapses in and explodes out that's very um, 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.199 that's very democratic of you. And then one more thing 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:49.000 about thunder, Chuck, get this, there's three segments to the 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.040 sound of thunder. Did you know that I thought Pink 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.080 Floyd said that was like four. Really, I'm just kidding, okay, 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:58.080 because I remember delicates onund of thunder, but I don't 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:02.400 remember four parts. Okay. So there's the first part um 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:04.160 if I mean think about it. Think about when you've 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.960 ever heard thunder. It's like a there's like a few 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:11.800 sounds to it, right, So the first part is actually 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.679 um caused by the step leaders. Right, that's a tearing sound. 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:20.080 The second, a cracking sound, is actually caused by the 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:24.160 positive streamers. And then the third part is the explosion 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.760 of the air blowing up. But what you're hearing those 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:30.399 first two parts is literally the air ripping open and 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:34.840 they crazy yep. And if you are out in the country, 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.040 you might be able to hear that as far away 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.399 as fifteen miles. If you're in the city, maybe about 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.320 five miles, you'll be able to hear that thunder. And 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.400 it is true that you can divide by five and 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.760 that is roughly how far away your lightning is from you. 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:56.320 That's counting from the point the lightning strikes till you 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.480 hear the thunder. Divide that amount of seconds by five. 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:02.840 Ten seconds, it's two miles away. Is that how does 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:06.600 that rule of thumb work? I mean, don't storms travel faster? Well, no, 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:08.960 I think it has nothing to do with how faster traveling. 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:11.760 It's um the speed of light versus the speed of sound. 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:14.960 Oh yeah, because the speed of light travels at the 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.320 speed of light travel. The speed of sound is far 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.560 far slower, which is why the sound of thunder lags 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:23.000 the the flash of lightning so much. You just explained 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.640 it to yourself. Thank you. Thanks, So, I think it's 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:31.640 time for lightning myth number one. Whoa, that's a good 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:37.280 sound effect. All right, lightning myth number one? Once again, 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:41.119 The tallest objects in a storm don't always get struck 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:45.360 by lightning. Uh. It would make sense that lightning, if 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.399 you know, if it's gonna be reaching something that's sticking 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.320 up from the ground in the way of a positive streamer, 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.000 that the tallest thing will always be that thing. And 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:57.600 that is not the case because you can never really 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.840 predict the path of lightning. No, I strike the ground 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.800 right next to the tallest thing. It might also, yes, 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.080 because the the that path of least resistance, whether it's 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:09.840 dust or or the curvature of the earth or whatever. 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:12.440 That's Yeah, you can't predict where it's gonna go. And 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:15.320 even more than that, once the lightning is struck, it 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.959 may jump. Oh yeah, that is a property of lightning, 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:22.400 and may jump to something that has an even even 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:26.199 lesser path of resistance. UM, and that could be you. 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:29.400 So it could strike a tree that you're standing by 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:33.600 and you could be like whoo and then yeah, uh 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:36.800 the way, I guess, way to bust that myth? Thank you. UM. 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:39.119 I think since you brought that up, we might as 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:42.200 well talk about, um, the fact that when you see 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.240 lightning and you see it in the clouds and then 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:47.960 down on the ground and then flickering in the clouds afterward, 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:52.480 and remnants branching off, that's like maybe forty or fifty 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:55.800 lightning strikes. You're seeing all at once. It's the whole 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:59.760 idea that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. Every 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:02.000