The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-10-29
POPULAR SCIENCE.
The way In which Lightning Is Kindled in
the Storm Clouds

The Way In which Lightning Is Kindled In
the Storm Clouds.
The observations of meteorologists
show that the vapor which ascends in
an invisible state from the ground car
ries with it in calm and fine weather,
into the higher regions of the air,
very considerable supply OF positive
electricity. Each minute vapor-par-
ticle that goes up bears its own portion
of the load. When, however, the in
visible vapor has thus mounted into
very high regions of the air. it loses its
invisibility, and is condensed into vis-
ible mist Numerous particles of the
aqueous substance are drawn close TO-
gether and grouped into the form of
little vesicles or globules. Each one
of these is then "a reservoir or receptacle
of electric force. and as more and more
watery Vesicles are condensed more
and more electricity is collected in the
gathering mist; but each of the water
globules is still enveloped by a space
of clear air. In q drifting cloud the
mist-specks can be discerned floating
along with transparent intervals be-
tween. The clear air which lies
around the globules of vapor then acts
as an Insulating Investment; it impris-
ons its own part of the acquired cleo
trical force in each separate globule.
The cloud is thus not charged as
whole, like a continuous mass of
metal, with its electricity spread upon
its outer surface. 1t is interpenetrated
everywhere with the force 1t is COM
posed of myriad of electrified specks,
each having its own particular share
of the electric force, and each acting
as a center of electrical energy on its
own account The electricity which
at any one instant resides in the outer
surface of a cloud is, therefore, but a
comparatively small portion of that
which is present in the entire vaporous
mass. That such is the way in which
electricity is stored in the clouds has
been proved by direct observation.
When a gold-leaf electrometer is
placed in tbs midst of a cloud driven
along by the wind, it is seen that the
strips of gOld-leaf continually diVerge
and collapse as the mass of the cloud
passes along. There is an electrical
charge acting in all parts, but the
charge varies in intensity from place
to place according as there is a greater
or less condensation of the particles of
vapor in each particular spot. But the
influence externally eXerted by the
cloud is nevertheless capable of being
raised to a very intense degree because
it is, so to speak, the sum total or out
come of the force contained in the in
Vulnerable internal centers of energy.
1t is no uncommon thing for the
electrical force emanating from cloud
to make itself felt in attractions and
repulsions many miles away. Clouds
resting upon the remote horizon thus
| frequently produce perceptible effects
at distances from which the clouds
themselves can not be seen. An cleo
| trical cloud hanging a mile above the
| ground acts inductively upon that
! ground with considerable power.
When in summer time the temperature
/ of the earth's surface is very high, the
| ground moist, the air calm and the sky
| clear, very cOpiOus supplies of vapor
| are steamed up from the ground under
/ the hot sunshine. Clouds, however,
/ begin at length to gather in elevated
/ regions of the air out of the abundance
! of the supply. The free electricity
| which has been carried up with the
vapor is at first pretty evenly spread
through the clouds; but after time, as
the electrical charge becomes more and
more intense, powerful repulsive force
/ is in the end established between the
! spherules of the mist, and very high
! degree of tension is at last produced at
/ the outer surface of the cloud, where it
is enveloped by insulating air, until in
the end the expansive energy there be.
comes strong enough to occasion an
outburst from the cloud. The escape
of the redundant charge then appears
to an Observers eye as a flash of light
ming issuing from the cloud. Such, in
its simplest form, is the way IN which
lightning is kindled in the stOrm-cloud.
Science for al.