### discharge:

Lightning
* 'heaven touching earth' allegory in the sky.
* All lightning produces thunder.
* Most lightning occurs within the cloud or between the cloud and the ground.
* accompanies all thunderstorms and can cause death and injury.
* actually goes from the cloud to the ground and from the ground to the cloud
  - use their chines to create some lateral resistance
* affects all regions.
* also can kill
  - cause damage to trees in parks and gardens
* also causes many fires in Colorado
  - grassland and forest fires in Colorado
  - most forest and rangeland fires in Colorado
  - damages a few antennas every year
  - does strange things
  - generate electromagnetic signals which can similarly be received by TV sets
  - helps plants grow
  - inflicts severe lifelong injuries on many more than it kills
  - is an indicator for tornadic activity, along with shearing winds and hail
  - kills or injures hundreds of people a year in the United States
  - makes ozone-producing chemicals
* also plays a critical role in the natural cycle of forests by helping generate new growth
  - role in converting nitrogen gas
  - triggers forest fires in drier years
* always accompanies a thunderstorm
  - precedes thunder because lightning causes thunder
* always strikes the tallest object around
* balances the earth 's electricity and helps fertilize the soil.
* becomes dangerous, though, when it reaches for the Earth.
* brings fire to a tree across the water.
* builds from complex things, wind and rain, sun and land.
* can , and often does , strike more than once in the same place
  - actually strike outside the storm that produced it
  - affect all parts of the body, but the usual cause of deaths is heart stoppage
* can also appear strange looking when it forms some thing called ribbon lightning
  - arc from one cloud to another
* can also occur in clean air within a few kilometers of a thunderstorm
  - on a clear day
* can also travel through any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring
  - plumbing pipes and water to a person in contact with either one
  - the ground, to a person, after striking a nearby object
  - and does strike the same place twice
* can be another cause of rockfalls
  - deadly, and heavy rain associated with a thunderstorm can lead to flash flooding
  - erratic
  - extremely dangerous - stay out of open areas during thunderstorms
  - pretty scary for people
  - begin suddenly
  - bore large holes in the ground where it strikes
* can cause an atom bomb to detonate
  - electric appliances to become dangerous during a thunderstorm
  - houses to catch fire and split large trees right down the middle
  - nitrogen to react with oxygen in the air , forming nitrous oxides
* can cause power surges and outages
  - serious injury or even death
  - come through a brick wall as easily as through an open window
  - crash down from virtually clear sky
  - damage a building
* can damage electrical installations and induce fires
  - installations, start fires and cause death by electrocution
* can do considerable damage to aircraft, especially to radio equipment
  - an aircraft
* can enter a building via utility lines, metal beams, water pipes or drains
  - the house through electrical, telephone and plumbing connections
  - flash within or between clouds, or between clouds and the ground
  - flow through power lines as well as phone, cable and electrical wires
  - generate whistlers, radio waves that can travel long distances
  - hit in more then one place
  - kill or seriously hurt people
* can occur as far as ten miles from where rain is falling
  - for miles in front of a storm and after the storm appears to have passed
  - from any portion of the thunderstorm cloud
  - in four ways
* can occur within a cloud, between clouds, and from a cloud to the ground
  - cloud, cloud to cloud, and between cloud and ground
  - often strike without warning
  - put large spikes on power lines
  - reach far away from a nearby thunderstorm and strike ground
  - rip through roofs, explode brick and concrete and ignite fires
  - side flash, through air, for over a mile
  - split tree trunks, start fires, and knock airplanes out of the sky
* can start a fire that can quickly get too large to control
  - at the base of the cloud and go down to the ground
  - fires and it is strong enough to hurt or kill people
  - still hit flat ground or water, but more randomly than it hits elevated objects
* can strike a building more than three times a year
  - almost anywhere
  - anywhere and do millions of dollars worth of damage
  - areas which are miles away from the parent thunderstorm
  - as far as five to ten miles away from the edge of a thunderstorm
* can strike at any time of the day
  - time, including just before the storm hits or after it leaves the area
  - between cloud and ground, cloud to cloud and inside the thunderstorm itself
* can strike even if there's no rain
  - when the sky is clear
  - from anvil clouds, even far away from a thunderstorm
  - people and buildings and is very dangerous
  - several miles away from the parent thunderstorm cloud
* can strike the ground even at low elevations
  - in an open field even if the tree line is close by
  - twice in the same location
  - well away from a thunderhead
  - whenever liquid water droplets and frozen water crystals are present
  - take place in several different areas of a thunderstorm
  - temporarily blind pilots
  - therefore strike out of relatively clear overhead skies
* can travel a long distance through metal fencing or water
  - long distances in both phone and electrical wires, particularly in rural areas
  - on phone lines just as easily as the power lines
  - several miles ahead of the rain or after the rain has passed
  - six miles or more horizontally from the storm, then strike the ground
* can travel through metal fences and railroad tracks
  - telephone lines
  - the phone lines
  - wires and plumbing
  - wreak havoc on wind turbines
* capricious, random and unpredictable event
  - random, stochastic and unpredictable event
* causes asthma too by releasing spores from grass, trees, moulds and other plants
  - house fires every year
  - light in the form of plasma , and sound in the form of thunder
  - minute pinholes in the ground
  - much latent damage to electrical equipment
  - severe damage to living organisms as well as to the Earth s surface
  - thunder because a strike of lightning is incredibly hot
* claims more lives every year than tornadoes.
* comes from a parent cumulonimbus cloud.
* common way for the appliances in the home to be destroyed.
* common, yet dangerous product of a thunderstorm.
* connects the sky and land with a path of pure energy.
* consists of a number of components, which form a multidirectional flow of charges.
* cover the earth.
* creates thunder.
* danger for hikers, especially on mountaintops
  - in any thunderstorm
  - with all thunderstorms, regardless of severity
* dangerous phenomenon.
* deadly surge of electical current.
* dense stream of luminous plasma, a powerful electric discharge.
* develops during the violent circulation of air within the cumulonimbus cloud.
* discharge of electricity in the atmosphere
  - static electricity from a thunderstorm
* does indeed have a unique and unmistakable electromagnetic signature, at least on Earth.
* does strike more than once
  - quite a distance away from one flash to another
  - twice in the same place
  - twice, and more
* dramatic natural example of static discharge.
* eats soil and tries to make liquids and glass.
* familiar natural manifestation, and fluorescent lights are a practical application.
* fixes some amounts of nitrogen.
* flows through the air between the ions.
* follows the easiest path to the ground, and it often favors targets such as tall trees.
* form of electrical discharge between clouds or between a cloud and the ground
* forms some nitrates.
* frequently flashes from their eyes
  - strikes tall palms, usually with fatal results
* generally receives less attention than any other weather hazard.
* giant electric spark
  - electrical spark in the sky
  - spark caused by a buildup of static electrical charges
* grand display of electrical energy.
* has a major impact on the aviation community
  - both negative and positive polarities
  - no effect on the magnetic properties of the sensor if it struck nearby
  - the ability to explode as a sudden flash of energy transforming the world round about
* hazard too, especially in wide-open areas where storm chasing usually takes place.
* heats the sap in the tree trunk.
* helps the earth maintain an electrical balance.
* hitting magnetite turns it into lodestone.
* huge discharge
  - electric spark in the sky
  - release of electrical potential energy
* illuminates the clouds from within, until the entire sky is brightly lit.
* indeed can strike several times in rapid succession.
* is all about balance.
* is also a cause of fires
  - form of electricity
* is also a hazard for boaters
  - on open water
  - major source of electrical disturbances
  - an example of static discharge
  - fertilizer
  - always found with thunder - the two go together
* is an amazing force, and vital to the planet
  - arc force
  - atmospheric electrical discharge
  - electrical current that tries to bridge the air gap between the ground and a cloud
* is an electrical discharge in the atmosphere, very similar to a spark
  - that occurs in a thunderstorm
  - through the atmosphere of extremely high voltage
  - electrostatic discharge that travels between two charged regions
* is an example of electrical energy
* is an important aspect of climate in some areas because it starts fires
  - cause for transients in power and communication distribution network
  - another form of static electricity
* is associated with convective activity
  - wind, rain and crop growth
  - atmospheric electricity
  - attracted by the vertex of the pyramid
* is attracted to areas of water
  - tall objects, like trees
  - basically the effect of electrification in a thunderstorm
* is caused by a natural build-up of static electricity in clouds
  - electricity moving in between clouds or between the clouds and the ground
  - static electricity stored in rain clouds
  - the movement of positive and negative electrical charges towards one another
  - warm, moist air rising rapidly through clouds
  - charge moving from sky to earth
* is common in Texas
  - with lake effect snow
* is created by discharging high voltage electrodes which simulate cloud and ground
  - inside thunderstorms and can become very hot
  - dangerous to both man and the environment
  - described as having two parts
  - due to a large amount of electric charge moving from one cloud to the next
* is electrical charge
  - electricity, and electricity is always looking for the fastest way to reach the earth
  - equated more with death than life
  - extremely dangerous, highly unpredictable and very fickle
* is five times hotter than the sun
  - surface of the sun
  - flashs of light
  - grey and has black sparkling eyes
  - hard to see at a distance in the daytime
* is just a spark between opposite charges
  - as hazardous as power lines
  - less obvious during the winter months
  - located in clouds
  - more frequent over the land masses of the globe
* is most common in the spring and summer months, but can occur at any time
  - likely to strike where the sphere touches the ground
  - mother nature's way of balancing the charges out
  - no longer the main killer of computers
  - notoriously unpredictable and can strike virtually anywhere
  - one of the leading weather-related cause of deaths and injuries
* is one of the most dangerous elements of Arizona weather
  - features of a thunderstorm
* is one of the most powerful and destructive forces of nature
  - forces in nature
  - perhaps the most spectacular phenomenon associated with thunderstorms
* is powerful, and always looks for the path of least resistance
  - beautiful, and can be deadly
  - produced as thunderclouds produce the classic big billowy shape
  - random, unpredictable and very dangerous
* is responsible for human and livestock deaths, airplane damage, and fires
  - more deaths in Florida, by far, than any other weather-related cause
  - seen before thunder is heard because light travels much faster than sound
  - simply a giant spark
* is so powerful that it can even knock an airplane out of the sky
  - strong that when it strikes it lights up a tremendous amount of area around it
  - software
* is static electricity
  - on a large scale
  - still the most common source of fire in many terrestrial ecosystems
  - surrounded by a glow called a corona
  - the agency which maintains the earth's capacitive electrical balance
* is the cause of many forest fires each year
  - discharge of excess energy from the Earth into the atmosphere
  - discharging of enormous voltages and energy storage in clouds
  - main source of Earth songs
  - major natural cause of wildfires
* is the most common cause of modem failure
  - dramatic form of energy to be found in nature
* is the most frequent weather hazard impacting athletics events
  - threat to personal safety during the thunderstorm season
  - number one cause of modem failure
  - one of the leading causes of weather-related deaths during an average year
  - prime source of ozone in nature
  - source of thunder
  - transfer of significant charge between two charged objects
* is the visible discharge of electrical energy
  - vault of electrical ions from cloud to cloud, and cloud to earth
  - world's most underrated weather hazard
  - three times hotter than the surface of the sun
  - too erratic to be useful as a source of domestic electricity
* is unpredictable and occasionally behaves in a strange manner
  - uncontrollable
  - in other ways, too
* is very active
  - common during storms
* is very dangerous and can seriously injure and kill people who are struck
  - for people and their property
  - rare in a snow-storm
  - unpredictable, which increases the risk to individuals and property
  - what appears in stormy skies
* jumps from one cloud to another in a thunder storm.
* keeps plants alive.
* kills more people each year than tornadoes do
* kills more people in Florida than in any other state
  - Tennessee than any other weather event
* kills more people than tornadoes, so take cover even during ordinary thunderstorms
  - tornados and hurricanes combined
* large discharge of electricity
  - electrical that happens between two opposite charged surfaces
* lasts only a fraction of a second, but it is filled with energy and is very hot.
* major concern for all transport workers
  - contributor to nitrogen fixation
  - threat during a thunderstorm
* mostly occurs in thunderstorms.
* much smaller source of fixed nitrogen.
* natural electric arc
  - example of a plasma
  - method of producing electricity
  - phenomenon evoking feelings ranging from fear to fascination
* never strikes in the same place twice
  - the same place twice - it strikes different places all in sequence
* never strikes twice in the same location
  - spot
* obviously can fry computers and other household equipment.
* occurs almost daily in Florida during the summer and strikes literally without warning
  - constantly year round
  - due to the separation of huge pools of electrical charges
  - frequently and more so in specific areas
  - in a variety of forms
* occurs in all thunderstorms and when it strikes, it's deadly
  - primarily during thunderstorms
* occurs when electricity flows between two objects of opposing electric charge
  - the ground and the clouds are at different electrical potentials
* occurs with all thunderstorms and is very dangerous
* often has a paralyzing effect that is temporary
  - occurs within clouds, especially over the oceans
  - pierces the sky in the Kansas City area
  - precedes the rain
  - starts forest fires
  - strikes in multiple pulses
* packs a tremendous wallop when it strikes the ground.
* poses a significant risk to citizens
  - tremendous hazard at high altitudes
* powerful electric current
  - force of nature, feared by the same people who are astonished by it
* produces nitric oxide that in turn leads to rapid ozone formation
* puts holes in the ozonelayer.
* releases a tremendous amount of radio energy when a strike occurs.
* repeatedly strikes the same objects year after year.
* represents only a minor fraction of all fire starts.
* result of an imbalance of electrical charges.
* seems to be as common on Venus as it is on Earth
  - strike some objects more than others
* short duration, double-exponential pulse, having a very fast rise time.
* signifies that a strong thunderstorm is in progress.
* single-victim event.
* starts the vast majority of forest fires.
* stream of electricity that excites nitrogen molecules in the air.
* strikes central Florida more frequently than anywhere else in the United States
  - most frequently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  - rare cycads
* strikes the earth almost all the time
  - ground at both ends of a moving train
  - mast of a ship
  - thousands of people each year
* sudden electrostatic discharge that occurs during an electrical storm
  - rush of electrically charged particles from one location to another
* takes the path of least resistance to the ground
  - shortest path between the cloud and the ground
* tends to hit elevated sharp terrain features like mountain tops
  - move horizontally along the earth once it makes contact, as shown above
  - strike taller objects such as trees or telephone poles
* threat to tall palms.
* traveling down a tree trunk turns water to steam.
* travels at the speed of light which million times faster
  - both up and downwards
  - the easiest route, from the cloud to ground, often striking the tallest object
* traverses a tree with a tendency to deviate from it and follow a path of least resistance.
* tremendous discharge of static electricity.
* usually carries thousands and thounds of amps of energy
  - causes more fatalities each year than tornadoes
  - seeks the shortest path from the thunderstorm to the surface below
  - strikes the tallest objects, such as trees, or a person standing in a field
* very dramatic form of static electricity
  - real concern when black clouds start to form
* works with nitrogen in the air to produce a fertilizer.
* wreaks havoc on vehicles and structures.
+ Lightning, Discovery: Weather :: Electricity
+ Static electricity, Discharge: Electricity
  * The feeling of a static electric shock is caused by the stimulation of nerves as the neutralizing current flows through the human body. Due to the presence of much water in the body, the charge is generally not enough to cause a dangerously high current. Lightning is also an example of static discharge. A cloud gets a very huge charge by clashing with other clouds. It gives off the excess charge to the ground. But this huge charge never occurs in the human's surroundings naturally, unless he is struck by the lightning.
+ Thunderstorm, Benefits
  * Lightning in thunderstorms also helps keep the electrical balance between the earth and the atmosphere. Lightning is also fertilizer. When it splits through the sky, it changes nitrogen gas in the air to nitrogen compounds. These fall to the ground and are added to the soil. Nitrogen is one of the main ingredients in fertilizer. Ten percent of the nitrogen fertilizer needed for farming is made by lightning.
  * So, even though thunderstorms are dangerous, they can be a great help. They give summer water, cool the earth, and clean the air. Lightning balances the earth's electricity and helps fertilize the soil. And after a thunderstorm, sometimes there is a beautiful rainbow
  - Lightning: Severe weather
  * Thunderstorms are very active electrically. Lightning is a large electrical  that happens between two opposite charged surfaces
  - Severe thunderstorms
  * Lightning, which happens with all thunderstorms, makes thousands of forest fires each year in the United States. Lightning also kills or injures hundreds of people a year in the United States