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Raging Planet: Lightning

Added Apr 17, 2019 •

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This video describes the regions of highest occurrence, research, dangers, and safety precautions for lightning. Watch the video and answer the assigned questions.

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this is the most powerful electrical force on Earth hotter even then son a killer regenerations I'm the screen now the latest camera technology reveals its most shocking Secret I'm hungry gif around the world lightning strikes more than ink X everyday 100 times a second Super heats the surrounding air causing it to rapidly expand and explode the Shockwave green . It discharges inside just leave the clouds it can strike anywhere on Earth delivering a trillion watts of electricity enough energy to power an entire city running across the center of Florida is America's lightning hotspot known as Lightning alley every year over 50 strikes per square mile and every year people get hit on a September evening in 1999 fisherman Dave Grohl fire had just cast his line into the lake without warning a bolt of lightning strike down from the cloud above him with shocking consequences the rod as you see here. I thought it was about a 7-foot rod it was always you so hot that it burnt the epoxy away evaporated and left nothing but the carbon fibers at the end of the rod it wasn't just arrived that was Dave suffered most of his clothes the revealed the score of the strike the Zipper was all gone and I several months later I asked her medical was there anything stuck in me because your Zipper was almost burned onto yours do your ad and that's how hot it got this is what's left this is where my paper was at my side doesn't look too bad they're compared to what the paper look like when I got it back beast on his boots were untouched until he saw strange pin holes with a lightning finally left his body I guess the electricity pass through my body to the bottom of the shoe and jumped over the hill and back to the ground to ground itself lucky ones victims across North America more people are killed by lightning and by tornadoes or hurricanes there is a place on Earth but even more dangerous the heart of the equatorial Africa they're more likely strikes than anywhere else on Earth dr. Earl Williams of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a world Authority on lightning using bleach necessary lies calculate that lightning strikes the Congo Basin more than twice as many times as Florida some places are over 300 strikes per square mile every year Ford Lightning in this part of the world has rarely been studying like so today I was at the border between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to witness the light French self as Darkness Falls the thunderstorms begin there has been much evidence that this gives the most electrically active place on the planet and now to find meteor on see it from the ground and witness the the high rates of lightning is very excited strikes can't be seen with the naked eye Spencer time is The Flash an average storm produces around to Streisand net Earl measures more than 60 a minute was formed to your are definitely living up to expectations are producing lightning and race which are extraordinary LA Harley this is really the best place to study light the Congo Basin provides the perfect conditions for large electrical storms is he worth is heated by the sun produces lots of warm moist air warm air rises as it gains height the moisture cools and condenses storm clouds these clouds grow and merge the larger ones Rising all the time some of the water drops become too high play I'm trapped air to lift some Solace rain High into the cold regions where they freeze in Italian will suffice as the clown hit the base of the stratosphere it spreads out sideways to form the anvil-shaped typical standard class the clouds that make lightning or the largest clouds in the atmosphere a big Act of cumulonimbus cloud is about as wide as it is deep generate long anvils which extend horizontally on the prevailing winds Aloft some ice crystals building size to form small hailstones just believe it is detail Stones Fall Back Rising ice crystals millions of tiny collisions occur these commissions build up an electric charge which is stored in the cloud like a battery I was very much like a battery but a battery with a much higher voltage in their typical flashlight battery not one and a half. It's a hundred million volts what scientists don't know is exactly how this electric charge what remains a major meteorological mystery is how it is the ice particle collisions result in the generation of lightning were very much in the Middle Ages on that problem it's extremely difficult to study lightning since each Strike last just a fraction of a second one of the best ways to investigate mr. freeze the action using a camera David stillings is a photographer patrols lightning alley in Pursuit electric storms for the last 3 years obsessed with like me I put my last $0.02 in my gas tank if it then I can go change the sperm is success rate is less than 1% when he does capture lightning the results back in 1976 this was the first one and when it popped out of that car right there with that blue sky and they're in purple Cloud off from that point on Lightning was everything I want to photograph this particular and they all happened at the same time Mrs in 2004 the shutter couldn't have been open more than one second a purple sky gold Sunset all the neat stuff that I look to see out there and it all came together in one photograph the school before David even begin to photograph lightning he has to find it those two domes there might be getting high enough to produce lightning the sun is breaking through and it's going to hit up the humidity is going to start this is his doing that stuff it might have potential but can't even capture it on camera photographer David stillings has found a thunderstorm that will produce lightning now the challenge is to point is camera in the right direction I hope it's a big one right there an average storm here for produce a couple of lightning flashes every minute but it's impossible to predict where they will strike next there's another one right there out of them all this is a DJ occupation cuz I got a lightning can strike anything and anyone to 25 miles away from a cloud David prefers to use a traditional film cam so he never knows whether he's got the shot until he gets the process photos back roll after roll after all. I got a streak of lightning right there David's patience pays off and he manages to capture the elusive phenomenon on film this is this is Nate the bottom line is yeah this is my addiction but if you have to be addicted to something look a picture of a lightning strike Frozen in Time be a work of art Wichita graffiti is also extremely valuable for scientific analysis when observed with the naked eye appears to travel from the clouds. Berkeley to the ground but recent advances in video camera technology revealed that the anatomy of lightning is much more complex this is the u.s. Air Force atmosphere search strip Colorado Springs is using a super slow motion camera to capture lightning to do this he needs split-second timing it's a lot like fishing you just have to get lucky and get the lightning bolt inside your field of you success here are the two years ago macari hit the jackpot I was simply watching the lightning get closer and closer and I kept recording it and I didn't know what I had until I went back and reviewed it was the first time ever recorded the birth of a lightning bolt super slow motion when playback it shows a flash of light turned out of a cloud and zigzag downward in roughly 50 car sickness is first stage of lightning is called a step leader you can see the step leader coming down here looking for ground going back and forth you can see tortures channel is taking as a device back and forth business stepped leader gets close to the Europe it has an extraordinary effect on objects on the ground they respond to the strong electric field by growing positive streamers he's reaching anywhere between three and a few hundred feet above the ground as seen in these rare when is Steph leader and a positive streamer meet the electric charge can drain to Earth resulting in a blinding flash of light call lightning the entire field of view lights up that's the main part of the lightning strike that your eyes with cash the new generation of cameras has an e scientist to record a strike the last just a fraction of a second play it back over 200 times slower to analyzes detail be super slow motion images show the step meter making a connection with the ground Tire charge then drains from the cloud above seen as a series of pulses what's the biggest tuna technology scientists are beginning to unravel the mysteries of lightning and new research has revealed that he German City environments can cause much more frequent lightning storms Tampa Florida the lightning capital of the United States with more lightning than anywhere else from the State University of New York because Tampa is an urban heat island is urban heat island is caused by the fact that the city already has a lot more appropriate Services of asphalt and concrete that absorbs a lot of sun total radiation and other tickets readmitted in the air in the city the city and be as much as 15 Breeze warmer than the surrounding rural areas as the warm air rises convection in the atmosphere Urban heat island can cause more thunderstorms as it develops and Convergent Zone over the city which helps to lift the air and initiate more thunderstorm the creation of thunderstorms means lightning is inevitable especially cities in warm humid climates like Tampa Bay Florida and Houston Texas a very capable of producing more thunderstorms and more lightning which is more dangerous to the public live in 06 scientific research has recently produced evidence that lightning doesn't just come down from above Sweet Shoppe high for this guy do in Rapid City scientist Time Warner has been using high-speed photography to uncover previously Hidden World of lightning or something is such a way that we've never seen before using a battery of cameras he's managed to capture some astonishing images which show lightning trout from Cloud to ground the shooting upwards most extraordinary form of lightning has been known about since the 1930s but these pictures has finally confirmed its existence this is the first time in Cooper Lighting in such detail as we're saying right now and understanding of physics relating to these upper classes does increasing your nose bleed Tom has observed it upward lightning is triggered by me cloud-to-ground lightning strike disconnect a lightning strike produces a bright flash of light who is second in the initiate the formation of upward leaders from 2 video Maps why this happens is still a mystery for Thomas theory is that the lightning strike causes large amounts of electric charge to build up around the top of a tall structure discharge Leipsic connects with cloud above will see a delay between when the flash takes place and then the leader is shot up from the tower tip and goes upward the images Thomas filmed over the last few years of astounded the world of lightning science open scene. State-of-the-art technology what to see one of the greatest lightning displays on the planet the only equipment you'll need is your eyes here on Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo the team of scientists from the University of zulia are setting out in search of the regions legendary catatumbo lightning unusual conditions in this area create a unique kind of like them nothing gas bubbles up from vegetation in the swamps and rivers Lake Maracaibo oil fields also produce methane gas as a byproduct it all accumulates in the atmosphere fascinations against nothing is lighter than air as it rises up into the clouds it feeds the storm screen brighter much more colorful lightning what lead scientist professor and he'll Munoz and his team think there may be more to catatumbo lightning MCI in the last 10 years we found out there are more than double the political this cherished and flashes so most probably is related to global warming but we still need to do some research about catatumbo lightning Loops from Cloud to Cloud goodnites the year for up to 10 hours a night Elaine is an amazing phenomenon is unique is beautiful it is soon is in our heart is in our Anthony is in our flag that's what color tube is for us this display is so colossal it's visible 100 miles out to sea for centuries Sailors used it for navigation who is known as the Maracaibo lighthouse a lightning storm can be from a distance but up close lightning to be deadly the most dangerous place to be is in a wide open space including any large expanse of water and it's true that Sheltering under a tree is a bad idea lightning and turn tree sap into superheated steam making the tree explode in a shower of potentially deadly splinters can also travel down telephone lines there is a very scary warning sign that you're in danger if your hair stands up you just become a positive streamer I'm coming down from that cloud up there is a negative leader that if you don't do something right now and they're it when they connect you just become a bolt of lightning if this happened to you the best thing to do is to quickly swap shooting Carolyn that had no warning she was in danger she was making her way to class at the University of South Florida in Tampa King's Rock I heard a loud loud crack of thunder and within a second I saw a light basically the corridor in front of me of palm trees was Overexposed and I felt the electricity start going through my entire body I could feel it's every ounce every inch of my body my muscles expanded the contracted very tightly and every I just feel that pressure going through my entire body after effects if we like I had a very very severe sunburn so afterwards everything all my skin peeled off a lightning flash contains up to 200000 amps but it takes just one tenth of a actual person so how do victims survive a lightning strike and live to tell about it doctors at the University of Illinois bien Sur Professor Marianne Cooper is an expert on what happens when lightning strikes when lightning attaches to a person the vast majority of the energy goes around the outside of the person rather than through them instead of striking vital organs the charge flows through the moisture on the skin and down to the ground behind skull call mishkin birthmarks as it's going around the outside it may turn the rain water or the sweat that the person has on them and it stink sometimes the buildup of steaming clothing wear shoes exclusive consequences just like you may have heard about it people in explosions with a blown out of their shoes that's what we can see sometimes with lightning as well because that's wet or the water I was tremendously but we actually see more damage to the inside of foot where and sometimes to clothing and we see the outside of it a lightning strike can cause cardiac but this is rare his vast majority of people survive lightning injury may have printer problems including damage to the nervous system who won Survivor Pam Cooper still suffering from a damaging power of a stripe sitting on the beach with my book minding my own business doing nothing extraordinary my life is changed Forever by lightning I don't remember the actual benefits truck through my friends and family that I know second-hand what exactly happened to on that fateful day Destin Beach Florida was hot and sunny my family says that they heard a large clap of thunder lightning everyone else is starting furry pick up your belongings because of the lightning bright being so close I was sitting with my feet in the sand and the lightning struck the sand and then came up through my feet Pam was to the hospital with extensive Burns Chinese later she still suffers from Mobility problems and short term memory loss he struck by lightning it's very similar to a computer crash because on the outside I look fine but on the inside my circuitry messed up Pam's experience could happen to anyone so it's vital to know exactly what to do to protect yourself from a lightning strike when is thunderstorm for people's lives could be at risk tell people when thunder roars go indoors what we mean is secret safe for shelter if you're ever caught out in a thunderstorm one of the safest places to be many people believe tires on a car will keep them safe but that's not true it's the cars metal body that provides protection what does high voltage experiments Tesla coil is the lighting simulator and electrical Transformer that discharges three-quarters of a million volts and look more than enough to kill dr. Lisa lazarek is an electrical engineer who's willing to sit in a car underneath the coil to prove that the Met body will protect her the electrical charge striking this car is going to conduct around the outside surface of the enclosed body so I should be fine as long as I don't touch the metal of the car to talk about the theory another saying to put it into practice so I guess I'm ready the electrical charge flows around the metal body of the car discharges harmlessly to the ground I'm fine at the theory has worked at expected my feet are slightly tingling and because I was nervous my hands are still cramp together but other than that the experiment has just proved the rule of physics charge like lightning the outside surface of an enclosed metal body that's my passengers are unharmed when a plane is struck by lightning this incredibly rare footage plane flying into Sydney airport shows a dramatic strike no one on board even though they've been hit Hindi video captures another as a plane takes off from an airport in Japan once again the passengers had no idea what happened. every commercial aircraft is hit once a year besides suffering a direct hit the biggest threat to life is when lightning triggers fire during the summer of 2008 usually High number of lightning strikes set large areas of California on fire one single storm Unleashed up to 5000 lightning strikes more than a thousand individual fires Flames destroyed dozens of homes in a lightning phone area living in houses built on trees carries a high risk lightning fires can destroy property and devastate Forest he can also have a positive effect on the landscape Nature has evolved way to work in harmony with lightning fires and even depends on them to renew lunch Australian Outback tires are a common occurrence Jeffrey Li is a park ranger charged with looking after the land he welcomes the fires because they clear the ground and encourage the regrowth of edible plants Bush Tucker spring-trap X noodle grass and tree leaves everything on please put Chaka coming back in the area and crafts many plant species have evolved to colonize the areas these fires lay there and some seeds actually need fire to germinate lightning also helps produce vinyl plant at its peak the temperature of a lightning bolt its 50000 degrees burning the air nitrogen and oxygen react together to create nitrates these rain to Earth provide nutrients for plants scientist I discovered that lightning may also be playing a part high in the Earth's atmosphere when is the Zora images were taken from above the Earth they took scientist completely by surprise we showed huge burst of light flashing over the top of electric storms call Sprouts they were first photographed in 1989 recent scientific projects around the world join the hunt for these elusive phenomenon 1997 music scientist Professor Richard Dowden Australia's Northern Territory on a quest for a bizarre kind of lightning called Sprites Richard wanted to be one of the first capture them on cam can hear the scientific team to Beatrice Hill 40 miles east of Darwin Australia this weekend biggest thunderstorms on Earth good Richard wasn't interested in regular light bulbs he was chasing slides which appear directly above a thunderstorm Beatrice hill was a perfect place to start them because you need a clear view of the top of a thundercloud from a distance of at least 60 miles even though they're hard to see with naked eye because they're only visible for a few more seconds picture of a special modification on a standard image camera the big giant was this in front of it which is an image intensifier please saw used by the light of the world from Russia from the Russian military Richard and his team waited night after night taking turns Manning a camera after nearly two weeks they finally had a breakthrough. It was really a big frill but we didn't know what was there until way what are you going to run the the type spec out of it camera review of these flickering images of Sprites which are speeding through the atmosphere and more than one-tenth the speed of light that was a fantastic if I don't have any more sleep that night scientists remain mystified first meeting sightings of Sprites but just two years later dr. Jeff mchargue of the US Air Force atmospheric research Academy made another breakthrough managed to work using the image intensifier is super slow motion camera it was probably the most fun I've actually ever had taken date it was just great we took data All Night Long lyrics pretty much every take that we had the tapes revealed incredible variety of Sprites scientists have since given the names what we're looking at is a jellyfish Sprite and the first thing you'll see is there very large there may be 30 miles tall 30 miles wide just think about that that's almost from Colorado Springs to Denver Denver's the extraordinary physically looks like a carrot with the upper part being like the leaves of a carrot and the downward timbrel that we call it going like a stalk of the carrot adjust also captured the sea for columns Drive given side by side and the motion is pretty much all down since the name column or sea Sprite around the world as many as 10 Stripes could be shooting up from the clouds every minute just now know the Sprites are large-scale electrical discharges that make the air above them glow in a similar way to a fluorescent light bulb take a lot more research before scientist truly understand these electrical even though the serious study of lightning began over two centuries ago scientist still struggling to figure out what is like in Spanish but there is still a major meteorological mystery of You song what we do know is that lightning has an incredible capacity for Destruction can never be control

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Raging Planet: Lightning

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