The temperature of lightning is comparable to that of hot blue stars, or about five times hotter than the surface of the Sun. This shock wave travels through the sky as the sound of thunder. This charge is so intense, that the temperature rises up to 30 000 Celsius, which is about five times hotter than the surface of the sun. However, a striking fact is the charge carried down the small channel. University of Iowa physicist Don Gurnett is one of the scientists whose Voyager instrument detected radio waves called whistlers -- signs of lightning. Thunder Thunder is caused by the tremendous heat connected with the lightning flash. Dover Press, 298 pp. Meaning whatever the target was burned at a temperature as hotter than the sun, but the flames burn so slow it's unlikely that's the case. What are the characteristics of the Solar System? Lightning is one of the most beautiful displays in nature. Now, atmospheric scientists are learning more about superbolts, a rare breed of extreme lightning bolt that can stretch for hundreds of miles and be a thousand times brighter than an ordinary lightning stroke. When Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter in 1979, its imager captured areas nearly as big as the U.S. lit up by lightning in Jupiter’s clouds. I call for a 'hot' tag. Voyager also captured other, less ‘flashy’ signs of lightning. The bolt of lightning is heaps hotter than the Sun. 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The lightning does seem to be hotter than sun's surface, but it is nothing compared to temperatures inside the sun's core. – Source. At the same time it is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable of all natural phenomena. Disclaimer: This page is kept for historical purposes, but the content is no longer actively updated. In fact, lightning can heat the air it passes through to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun). ... That's three times hotter than the surface of the sun. It is also one of the most deadly natural phenomena known to man. “Fulgur” is the Latin word for lightning. Hotter than the surface of the Sun, yes. It's "hotter than the sun". In less than a microsecond, a lightning strike can produce heat five times hotter than the surface of the sun. ... destroyed something with the equivalent energy of the Sun. No wonder any water in lightning's path is immediately vaporized. “The temperature of lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun.” Further readings: Uman, M.A., 1984: Lightning. Consider this. How many people made that their desktop? However, a lightning strike can … Wow, looks like that would do more than 3 damage... That picture has obviously been altered to make the Jews look bad. 2. Consider this. Lightning is extremely hot—a flash can heat the air around it to temperatures five times hotter than the sun’s surface. Is she hotter than the surface of the sun? On Earth, lightning forms because colliding ice crystals and water drops inside clouds create positive and negative electric charges which become separated by convective forces. When the charges become separated enough, a lightning bolt discharges. This thread is archived, and closed to new comments. Energy from a lightning channel heats the air briefly to around 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, much hotter than the surface of the sun. )-lightning can reach up to about 30 000 degrees C-the surface of the sun is only about 6 000 degrees C – Source. Yes it did get greenlit pretty fast. … A lightning bolt is so powerful (it’s hotter than the surface of the sun! ) In effect, lightning is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. Plus lightning doesn't strike every section in the body. Lightning creates heat hotter than the sun. Lightning can be beautiful, scary and destructive, some five times hotter than the surface of the sun and carrying a 300 million Volt shock. Burns are rare from lightning. When Cassini flew by Venus twice in 1998 and 1999 Gurnett did a search for lightning with a radio instrument perfect for detecting signs of lightning sferics. Technically, lighting itself doesn't have a temperature. A lightning bolt is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. Lightning can be beautiful, scary and destructive, some five times hotter than the surface of the sun and carrying a 300 million Volt shock. Life of a lightning strike. The peak wavelength at which something glows is dependent solely on temperature, as described by the Planck function (pops), so the fact that lightning glows blue while the sun glows white (with its peak wavelength in the green section, but constructive interference above and below green causing it to appear white) indicates that lightning must be hotter than the sun. When lightning strikes a tree, the heat vaporizes any water in its path possibly causing the tree to explode or a strip of bark to be blown off. Men are over 4 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women. Lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun, so THIS is the hottest pic you'll see today, Star Wars, new music, bad food, and celebrity art are all on the Fark Weird News Quiz, Dec. 13-19: Boxing Day Edition, Super Bowl LVI has been pushed back one week because the NFL wants their 17-game schedule, The CEO of yet another Bitcoin company 'disappears', In other news, there are certified professional LEGO builders, Parkinson's forcing Billy Connolly into retirement, Do you use a French press to brew coffee? About 50,000°F—­five times hotter than the surface of the sun. A lightning bolt is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. Lightning can be beautiful, scary and destructive, some five times hotter than the surface of the sun and carrying a 300 million-volt shock. So, it wouldn't be completely accurate to say that a bolt of lightning is hotter than the sun itself, but these flashes of electrical energy do reach temperatures higher than the surface of the sun. The temperature of lightning is not high enough to trigger this nuclear fusion. At 50,000 degrees F—hotter than the surface of the sun!—lightning blasts the sand, vaporizing the area where the bolt of electricity shoots through the sand and melting the surrounding sand into dark glass. Runtime: 0.335 sec (335 ms). Whereas a lightning bolt can reach a temperature of 53,540 degrees Fahrenheit or 30,000 Kelvin, which is 5 times hotter than the Sun! To give you the numbers (which I had to look up! Something similar happens on Jupiter. it will go through the tires or could actually melt them. This is actually so hot it is plasma, another state of matter. With a nearby strike, heat takes time to move from a hot spot to a cooler spot. Lightning is a powerful burst of electricity that happens very quickly during a thunderstorm.. A bolt of lightning is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun.. than at its surface. It seems people who know a lot less about physics want to argue with OmniscientSean. How do Earth, the planets, and the heliosphere respond? Badass! 'Cool' just doesn't quite fit, you know? But might lightning on other planets be even more astonishing? The surface of the sun is estimated to be about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Javascript is required to view headlines in widget. However, lightning is several times hotter than the surface of the sun. NARRATOR: Lightning is a rapid discharge of electrical energy in the atmosphere. Stay tuned as this electric story unfolds on science.nasa.gov. Turn on javascript (or enable it for Fark) for a better user experience. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express orbiter has picked up bursts of electromagnetic waves some scientists attribute to whistlers, but others argue that the instrument’s frequency range was too low to detect the usual forms of whistlers. 3. This causes the air to explode outward. At 50,000 degrees F—hotter than the surface of the sun!—lightning blasts the sand, vaporizing the area where the bolt of electricity shoots through the sand and melting the surrounding sand into dark glass. Other Farkers comment on the links. New Horizons cameras captured lightning flashes on Jupiter ten times as powerful as anything ever recorded on Earth. Lightning is incredibly hot, five times hotter than the surface of the Sun at 30,000 degrees Celsius. Like what? This has clearly been edited by a Reuters photographer seeking to gain sympathy with worldwide anti-storm sentiment. That rationale entirely ignores light given off by whatever material is being burned though. The life cycle of the lightning starts in cumulonimbus clouds, or otherwise known as thunderheads. No. Lightning is as beautiful as it is powerful – a violent, hotter than the surface of the Sun electrical marvel. Lightning can be beautiful, scary and destructive, some five times hotter than the surface of the sun and carrying a 300 million Volt shock. Just wanted to get a discussion going. Allow us to explain that last fact. A man named Walter Summerford was struck by lightning 3 times in his life. Lightning is caused by an electrical charge in the atmosphere that is unbalanced. 1. Lightning is one of the most deadly natural occurrences known to man, creating temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun and shockwaves beaming out in all directions. Lightning strikes are not only dangerous; they can be deadly. 2. Lightning Across the Solar System Lightning is as beautiful as it is powerful – a violent, hotter than the surface of the Sun electrical marvel. Most of the heat is extremely concentrated and isn't able to spread due to permeability problems with the surrounding medium, pretty much like lightning which is also significantly hotter than the surface of the sun. Where's Ben Franklin and his kite when ya need him? Prepare to die, Jake Tapper has total-banninated Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany from CNN, because she lies even when the truth sounds better. So while it wouldn't be accurate to say a bolt of lightning is hotter than the sun itself, these flashes of electrical energy do reach higher temperatures than the surface of the sun. It’s hotter than the sun How hot is a lightning bolt? In addition, lightning is even hotter than the surface of the sun, at about 53,000 degrees F. If there’s a storm around you, the best place to be is inside. While this is quite remarkable, it also is very dangerous. Lightning can be beautiful, scary and destructive, some five times hotter than the surface of the sun and carrying a 300 million Volt shock. In 1980-81, Voyager detected radio signals called sferics, which like whistlers are signs of lightning. Gurnett has used Mars Express’s radar system receiver to conduct a five year search for lightning associated with dust storms on Mars. However, the core of the Sun is far hotter than this. Gurnett has been involved in the search for lightning on other planets across the solar system as well. Each spark can span over five miles in length, reach temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun and contain 100 million volts of electricity. But might lightning on other planets be even more astonishing? Lightning — it may look cool when you see it streak across the sky, but it's also an incredibly dangerous, unpredictable force of nature. Lightning is an amazing and breathtaking sight to witness. As they freeze, ice particles become separated from the water drops by convection, building a charge, which is discharged as lightning. 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