Virtually everyone has pulled the covers over their heads to escape the flash of lightning during a nighttime thunderstorm. Like thunderstorms that rage around the world daily, every second somewhere around the world more than 100 strokes of lightning flashing. Lightning can contain 100,000 amps, compared to the 200 amps and 240 volts found in most homes. Lightning strokes can reach temperatures of 54,000 degrees. Every year lightning kills about 100 people, and is deadlier than any other form of severe weather.
Scientists continue to study lightning, trying to learn more lightning and why it occurs.
The result is what has scared nearly every adult and child. Lightning is the visible electrical discharge that occurs within thunderstorm clouds, between clouds, from cloud to ground or from cloud to the surrounding air. According to Oolman, thunderstorms and lightning are how the earth balances the electrical forces that exist between the atmosphere and the earth. After we see the flash of lightning, thunder is sure to follow. The air around a bolt of lightning becomes ionized, heating the surrounding air.