Similar processes occur in a developing thunderstorm. Graphic designed by Steve Hilberg, Midwestern Regional Climate Center. You and the door knob now have a neutral charge. The zap you feel and may hear are the electrons moving from you to the door knob through an electric spark.Ī) When you walk across the carpet, electrons move from the carpet to your body, giving you a negative charge.ī) When you touch the door knob, the excess electrons move from you to the positively charged door knob. When you touch a metallic object like a door knob, the electrons move from you to the knob. When you walk across a carpet, for example, electrons move from the atoms in the carpet to you. In many respects lightning is similar to the static electricity spark you may see or feel during the winter when the air is very dry and you touch a metallic object. These giant sparks can extend from the cloud to the ground or objects on the ground, between clouds, within the cloud, or even between the cloud and air. Lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge from a thunderstorm, the most common but least understood of weather phenomena.
Knowing about lightning and lightning safety may protect you from one of the most erratic and unpredictable characteristics of a thunderstorm. While some 90 percent of people survive lightning strikes, survivors often suffer devastating life-long injuries. Hundreds of people are struck by lightning each year, resulting in an annual average of 50 deaths in the U.S. It occurs throughout the country, but especially in the Southeast, Midwest, and front ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Lightning is one of the oldest observed natural phenomena on earth.
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