Lightning

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Lightning

• Shocker from the Earth?

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What is Lightning?

• Opposite charges gather in a cloud and on the
  cloud, when enough charge is gathered the ground
  charge breaks through to meet the opposite charge
  in the clouds, resulting in a flash and often
  thunder.

3
How many types of lightning are there?
There are many different many types of
lightning. Forked, sheet, heat, Ball, St. Elmos
Fire, and high altitude lightning. Some precede
a thunder storm, some come after, some are
instantaneous and some can go super slow and last
several minutes.
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What is the weirdest type of lightning?
Ball lightning, which there are no known
photographs, has not been proven to exist. Five
percent of the worlds population has reported
seeing ball lightning since recordable
history. Ball lightning is what the name applies
a ball normally the size of a grapefruit and as
small as a pea. They come in different colors and
often change hues. Almost all ball lightning's
end in a big explosion and release of energy.
They normally appear on low level areas,
indoors and sometimes in planes and submarines.
They can last from several seconds to several
years. They often travel through screens and
leave burn marks and holes.
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How fast does normal lightning travel?
Lightning travels a third the speed of light,
that averages around 60000 MPH/S. Lightning can
travel a hundred miles or more.
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Do tall metallic poles and trees provide
protection from lightning?
Sounds funny doesnt it? But did you know more
people die from standing next to tall objects to
protect themselves from the rain and or using
umbrellas, because they did not know that by
doing those actions they became a conduit. Just
recently in Mexico a guy was fried using his
cell phone in a thunder storm. So people please
be smart and stay away from metallic objects
during a storm.
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What is the fatality rate of lightning?
Less than one hundred people die from lightning
strikes in a year. Most were in plain like areas
like are mid west states. Of course there are
more people hit than a hundred but most of those
were minor or were indirect hits.
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What does being hit by lightning do to the body.
Lightning is like being on the electric chair but
the power is a thousand times more, but oddly
enough your chances of surviving are extremely
great. Most lightning strikes dont really hit
the a person but normally in a extreme close
proximity. This normally sends the person flying
and renders him or her unconscious. Direct hits
are rare and the damage they do can be as great
as 3rd degree burns, smoking holes where your
knees and heels use to be among other things.
But in some reported cases lightning has had
healing effects on people. There are a few cases
known where a blind person was hit and
miraculously he was able to see after. Some
people with neurological problems would find
themselves healed.
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Why do some locals have more lightning more than
others?
Local areas like the American Midwest experience
more lightning than other areas because of the
flat low terrain, large amounts of dust and
humidity in the area. Winds are generally mild so
cloud build up is inevitable. Areas like Hawaii
which has large amounts of cloud cover but with
its winds, the clouds rarely stay put and
dust and mountainous areas help reduce the amount
and big thunderstorms are rare in such areas.
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THE SHOCKING END
Jason Homepage