Lightning

Cool Facts & Stats

Lightning is a giant discharge of electricity accompanied by a brilliant flash of light and a loud crack of thunder.

It is freaking HOT and POWERFUL!....

• The spark can reach over five miles (eight kilometers) in length, 
• It can raise the temperature of the air by as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,700 degrees Celsius)
• It contains approximately 100 million electrical volts.

Some interesting statistics

•  Lightning detection systems in the United States monitor an average of 25 million strokes of lightning from clouds to ground during some 100,000 thunderstorms every year.

• It is estimated that Earth as a whole is struck by an average of more than a hundred lightning bolts every second.

• The odds of becoming a lightning victim in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 700,000. The odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 3,000.

• Lightning can kill people (3,696 deaths were recorded in the U.S. between 1959 and 2003) or cause cardiac arrest.

• Injuries range from severe burns and permanent brain damage to memory loss and personality change.

• About 400 people survive lightning strokes in the U.S. each year.

Safety

• People should stay away from windows and doors and avoid contact with anything that conducts electricity, including landline telephones. Most people hurt by lightning while inside their homes are talking on the telephone at the time.

•  People shouldn't be swimming during the thunderstorm; it is very dangerous because water is a good conductor of electricity

• An umbrella can increase your chances of being struck by lightning if it makes you the tallest object in the area.

Source:
National Geography. "Flash Facts About Lightning." [Online] 24 June 2005