Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1915-06-27
THUNDERSTORM IS
FROM ELECTRICITY
Simple Explanation Of Pie.
nomena Given by Electrical
Experimenter Primer


,harges from the clouds, suys the Elec
trical Experilnenter In printing what
II calls ~ thunderstorm primer"
Every cloud. like every other object.
contains electricity. This makes no
disturbance W long ~ the quantity
contained IL normal When the yuan
tity becomes greater than normal the
object II positively charged; when It
becomes less than normal the object II
negatively charged. The equilibrium
Ut the electric force In the clouds II
disturbed by corporations from che
surface Of the earth. by changes OF
temperature In the atmospheric vapOr.
by chemical action on the earth's sur
face aud by the friction Of volumes Of
mir Of different densities against each
other.
When clouds charged with the oppo
site electrlcities approach. the forces
rush toward each other und combine to
restore the state Of equilibrium. for all
bodies charged with opposite electrici.
tics attract each other. Between the
clouds IL air. an excellent nonconduc-
tor. through which the electricity has
to force passage. The violence With
which It does this produces the light.
ming and the accompanying crash Of
thunder.
2 Clouds are good conductors. while the
air about them ia nonconductor:
therefore the electricity accumulates In
the clouds. It Is probably this cleo.
tricity which prevents the particles Of
water from uniting together and falling
down III the form Of rain.
Imagine two clouds near to each 9th.
or IN the sky. one positively and the
other negatively electrified. for there
cannot In all nature he such c0ndi.
ton us that Of one body positively ex.
cited without the coexlstence Of an.
other body negatively excited. II the
positively charged cloud were all alone
In the sky the circumjacent atmOe-
phcre would assume the negative func.
ton. But as the other cloud Is near by
Il becomes negative. aud both are mu-
tually attracted. They approach each
them can no longer resist their electric
tension. when the discharge takes
place.
The equilibrium Of the clouds being
thus restored. there is nothing to keep
the particles of water apart; they Goa
lessee into drops ana fall as rain.
When only the clouds are involved
the equilibrium II quickly restored by
few flashes and the storm II over.
When the air also IL involved It con-
tinues to charge the clouds with ele<~
tricity. and the discharges continue I'M
til the various strata Of air are brought
into their normal state.
Sometimes. when the clouds are
charged with IN opposite electricity to
that Of the earth. q discharge takes
place from clouds to earth or from
earth to clouds. Il II only when there
10 q great disturbance Of the electrical
forces that the lightning flashes to the
earth or vice versa.
The dash and the thunder peal are
simultaneous. and We zee the one BE-
fore We hear the other because light
wavee move far more swiftly than
sound waves The peal Of thunder b
instantaneous. but comes to Va n a
roll through being echoed from clouds
or mountains The noise II caused by
the vibrations Of the air rushing to OH
up the spaces where the electrical dis
charge has rareied it and condensed
It's vapoxs.
Lightning Il xigzag when II travels
through a long distance. because II
congresses the air. which interferes
with its direct course II Is straight
when It passes through only 4 short
distance. II Is forked when. being re
sisted by the air. II divides into two or
three points. 1t Is sheet when the dash
b too distant to be visible. and its n
lection alone Is seen.
Hv remembering that sound travels
a SSa-ser Of Il mile In second. while
light travels 30 swiftly that We see II
instantaneouSly. we can tell how far
on a thunder clap is. II We hear
thunder clap four seconds after seeing
the fash We know II Is mile away.
For such calculations our own pulse IL
q sufficiently accurate measure OF time.
for the pulse OF an adult beats about
once 4 second. A person under forty
should count i've beats to the mile: Il
person under twenty should count SIX
beats to the mile.