Lightning is greatness, it is myths and fears. Shiny, sparkling threads connecting heaven and earth.
And in 1989, new, special types of lightning were discovered that did not reach the Earth: elves, sprites, jets.
Lightning has been exploring for centuries. How the charge arises in the cloud, why gamma or quanta are emitted during a thunderstorm - there are no answers.
10. The average length of the lightning is almost ten kilometers
Lightning is different. Linear, pearl, clear, necklace sequence of luminous small spherical formations.
Linear lightning is the most common. An electric charge moves in the atmosphere through a thin plasma channel from a cloud to the earth. It is with her that a person is familiar.
This is a branched line. The energy that this natural phenomenon carries is realized in the form of light, sound, and thermal energy.
9. Lightning temperature can be five times higher than the surface temperature of the sun
And this is a fact, because this figure is equal to 27,771 degrees Celsius.
8. In many religions, lightning is associated with God's punishment.
In all ancient cultures, it serves as an expressive sign of strength, speed, movement, and lightning, connecting heaven and earth, is a symbol of divine will. Places struck by lightning were considered sacred.
The punishment of heaven, the revelry of the natural elements - a common threat to people. Fear, the existence of which is associated more with ignorance.
At present, the traditions of the past are not given in to meaning. Either they began to sin less, or the board is not scary. But funny. For example, the Greeks believed that when lightning strikes the sea, the formation of pearls increases.
In fortune-telling lightning also left a mark. In some, lightning is an out of the ordinary event, prognostically good, portending happiness and prosperity, and a quick exit from a crisis state. In others - danger, destruction.
The Aztecs believed that lightning accompanied the deceased. It splits the earth and facilitates the path of the body into its depths.
In myths, one can find a mention of lightning as the hand of God or as the dazzling gleam of his eyes. A flash, a transfiguration of the world, and sacred awe.
7. The first glass that a person recognized was of natural origin
Nature creates glass every time a huge amount of energy is released on the surface of the Earth for a long time, provided that the composition of the soil is suitable for the formation of glass.
Sandy soil. It is sand that allows you to get natural glass called fulgurite (from fulgur - lightning, translated into Greek). Glass formation is possible when lightning strikes wet sand. Fulgurites have the most intricate, fabulous forms.
6. Ambiguous cases of lightning striking aircraft
Description of these cases and photo documents are amazing. This is an electric shock of 1 billion joules! Aircraft casing - a metal shielding net like an electrically conductive gauze covers the entire aircraft.
All inside are flying in a shielded camera. Furthermore. Before the airliner is put into operation, lightning strikes are simulated. Passengers are guaranteed safety.
5. Contrary to the well-known proverb, lightning strikes are often struck at the same place twice or even thrice.
Repeatedly passing through the formed channel, where there is the least resistance. And strikes in the same place. And people see this phenomenon as a flicker.
Lightning strikes up to fifty times a year at the Ostankino Tower. After all, this building works like a huge lightning rod.
Really contrary. Thunderstorm activity of world centers of thunderstorms is known: the leader is the island of Java. Further, as thunderstorm days decrease in a year, Africa, southern Mexico, and Panama are equatorial.
Thunderstorms in the Arctic and Antarctic are very rare. The average statistics show that every year per square kilometer of land there are 2-3 lightning strikes.
4. According to statistics, the chances of dying from a lightning strike and from falling out of bed are approximately equal
This is where the accident law comes into force. For every two million people, 1 case.
3. In the town of Tororo, located on the territory of the African country of Uganda, about two hundred and fifty days a year - thunderstorms
This is a very real figure. The geographical location of the locality suggests in these places a rampant disaster. This is the most thunderous place in the world.
2. American Roy Sullivan received lightning strikes seven times, but survived
This legendary man entered the Guinness Book of Records as a lightning rod man. Each encounter with a natural phenomenon left injuries on the man's body. But she didn’t kill. Once, on the territory of the house where the family lived, the spouse, hanging clothes, suffered.
Scientists explain this phenomenon by the fact that Roy Sullivan lived in thunderous terrain and his occupation (National Park ranger) made the probability of lightning strike high.
1. In 1998, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a lightning strike in a football field killed the entire team of players - 11 people
All those on the football field died instantly. The age of the athletes ranged from 20 to 35 years. Moreover, not a single person from the opponent’s team was injured.
Football matches are fun for the brave. This case was struck by the fact that a large number of people died simultaneously. And, as life has shown, for football players there is a threat to die on the field during a thunderstorm.
When sporting events are planned, everything matters. And the field fence in Thailand created a deadly electric ring, the growth of players (in Thailand killed the tallest player with lightning), the presence of lightning rods, in the end, taking into account the probability of a thunderstorm during the match.
Football today is the only sport where during the competitions a large number of deaths from natural phenomena were recorded.