Lightning (and consequently, Thunder)

We’ve had several storms recently. I love stormy weather. It’s my very favorite kind of weather. I’ve often thought that I would enjoy living in Washington or Oregon. And I love lightning. The other night, after the kids went to bed, Ricky and I set up our camping chairs in the backyard and sat in the rain watching the lightning. After a while we started rating them. One was the wimpiest and ten was the awesomest.

So I looked up some information about lightning to see exactly what it is and how it works. In a nutshell, lightning is formed when negatively charged particles from clouds connect with positively charged particles on the ground. And thunder, I think, is even cooler. Lightning heats the air around it to temperatures between 15,000 to 60,000 degrees Fahrenheit in only a fraction of a second. This causes that air to expand violently and then contract, creating a sonic shock wave that we hear as thunder. Cool!

Lightning Fun Facts:

·          About 100 cloud-to-ground bolts of lightning strike Earth’s surface every single second

·          A bolt of lightning can contain up to one billion volts of electricity

·          A single bolt of lightning can heat the air around it to temperatures five times the surface of the sun

·          About 2,000 people are killed by lightning each year

Seeing lightning fills me with an almost spiritual sense of wonder and amazement. This earth that we live on is such a marvel. It is filled with so much beauty. Every time I witness a mere whisper of that beauty, I feel like I’m opening a precious gift from God.