Unleashing The Power of Lightning

Unleashing The Power Of LightningIn Quest Of Energy For Humanity

Rohan Reddy MelachervuIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity

Class 6, Section DDPS, HyderabadDelhi Public School, Hyderabad Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.

Contents

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Why Care About Lightning?Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.The Sights and Sounds of Lightning (1/3)Thunder Storm

4-second video of a lightning strike, Island in the Sky, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, United StatesUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.The Sights and Sounds of Lightning (2/3)High speed photography showing different parts of a lightning Flash during the Discharge process as seen inToulouse,France

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.The Sights and Sounds of Lightning (3/3)

View from an Aero planeUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.What is Lightning? (1/2)A massive electrostatic discharge caused by unbalanced electric charges in the atmosphere accompanied by the loud sound of thunderIt could be:Cloud to itself Intra-CloudCloud to a cloud Inter-CloudCloud to ground CGGround to cloud - GCCaused by circulation of warm moisture-filled air through electric fields in which ice or water particles accumulate charge a la Van de Graaff generatorUsually produced by cumulonimbus clouds which are at 56 km above the groundLightning has been observed within the atmospheres of other planets, such as Venus, Jupiter and Saturn

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.What is Lightning? (2/2)A typical cloud to ground lightning strike is over 5 km longA typical thunderstorm has three or more strikes per minute at its peakThe science of lightning is called fulminology and the fear of lightning is called astraphobia

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Formation (1/2)HypothesisCloud particle collision hypothesisAccording to this cloud particle charging hypothesis, charges are separated when ice crystals rebound off graupel - a soft ice-water mixture. Charge separation appears to require strong updrafts which carry water droplets upward, supercooling them to between -10 and -40 C (14 and -40 F). These water droplets collide with ice crystals to form graupel. Collisions between ice crystals and graupel pellets usually result in positive charge being transferred to the ice crystals, and negative charge to the graupel.Updrafts drive the less heavy ice crystals upwards, causing the cloud top to accumulate increasing positive charge. Gravity causes the heavier negatively charged graupel to fall toward the middle and lower portions of the cloud, building up an increasing negative charge. Charge separation and accumulation continue until the electrical potential becomes sufficient to initiate a lightning discharge, which occurs when the distribution of positive and negative charges forms a sufficiently strong/high electric field.Polarization mechanism hypothesisFalling droplets of ice and rain become electrically polarized as they fall through the earth's magnetic field;Colliding/rebounding cloud particles become oppositely charged.

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Formation (2/2)When the local electric field exceeds the dielectric strength of damp air (about 3 million volts per meter), electrical discharge results in a strike, often followed by commensurate discharges branching from the same pathEven assuming an electric field has been established, the mechanism by which the lightning discharge begins is not well known

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Frequency and DistributionCloud-to-ground (CG) lightning accounts for 25% of lightning globallyThe base of the negative region in a cloud is typically at the elevation where freezing occursThe closer this region is to the ground, the more likely cloud-to-ground strikes areIn the tropics, where the freeze zone is higher, 10% of lightning is CGAt the latitude of Norway (60 lat.) where the freezing elevation is lower, 50% of lightning is CGLightning is not distributed evenly around the planetAbout 70% of lightning occurs on land in the tropics, where most thunderstorms occurThe place where lightning occurs most often is near the small village of Kifuka in the mountains of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo - where the elevation is around 975 metres - receives 158 lightning strikes per 1 square kilometer (0.39 sq mi) a year.

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Cloud-To-Ground Lightning (1/3)As a thundercloud moves, an equal and opposite electric charge of the base of the thundercloud is induced on the Earth's surface below the clouds shadowThe above effects creates and electric field in the air between the twoThis electric field varies in relation to the strength of the surface charge on the base of the thundercloud.Neutralization of the surface occurs in milli seconds where the positive charges race inward towards the strike terminationThis rapid change, referred to as step potential, is often responsible for more injury or deaths than the strike itself

Illustration: A negative leader - blue meeting a positive streamer - red and the return stroke

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Cloud-To-Ground Lightning (2/3)Downward Leader FormationA channel of ionized air, starts from a negatively charged region of mixed water and ice in the thundercloudIonized channels are referred to asleaders These leaders are conductors for lighting dischargeas they travel outward and are invisible to the naked eyeThe positively and negatively charged leaders proceed in opposite directions, positive upwards within the cloud, the negative towards the earthBoth ionic channels, proceed in their respective directions, in a number of successive spurts, similar to two kids hopping randomly in opposite directionsIt may split into two different directions, called branches in a fashion similar to a tree, resulting in multiple leadersThis process results in something resembling stairs and is referred to as "stepped leader(s)" once visible during dischargeHigh speed photography showing different parts of a lightning Flash during the Discharge process as seen inToulouse,France

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Cloud-To-Ground Lightning (3/3)Upward StreamersWhen a stepped leader approaches the ground, the presence of opposite charges on the ground enhances the strength of the electric fieldThe electric field is strongest on grounded objects whose tops are closest to the base of the thundercloud trees, tall buildingsIf the electric field is strong enough, a positively charged ionic channel, called a positive or upward streamer, can develop from these points first theorized by Heinz KasemirAs negatively charged leaders approach, grounded objects already experiencing corona discharge exceed a threshold and form upward streamersOnce any downward leader connects to any upward leader available, a process referred to as "attachment", a circuit is formed and discharge may occurThe ionized channel established between the cloud and ground becomes apath of leastresistanceallowing current to propagate from Earth back up the leader into the cloud which is called return strokeand it is the mostluminousand noticeable part of the lightning dischargeA lightning flash terminates & discharge occurs on a tree while an un-attached streamer is visible on the earth surface projection to the left.

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Other Types of Lightning

Cloud-To-Ground

Cloud-To-CloudMultiple paths of cloud-to-cloud lightning, Swifts Creek, AustraliaUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Physical Effects of Lightning

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Physical Effects of LightningUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Physical Effects of Lightning

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Physical Effects of LightningUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.The Power of Lightning

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Unleashing Lightning PowerUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Harvesting Lightning

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Anatomy of Energy Transformation

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Harvesting Lightning EnergyChallengesUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Harnessing Lightning PowerMassive Electrolysis Producing Hydrogen and Oxygen From Water

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Economics of Energy Generation

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Living In Lightning Alley Lightning Strike Music Video

Unleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity Rohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Delhi Public School, HyderabadRohan Reddy Melachervu. All rights reserved.Thank YouUnleashing The Power of LightningIn Pursuit of Energy for Humanity

Rohan Reddy MelachervuIn Quest of Energy for Humanity

Referenceshttp://www.britannica.com/blogs/2012/01/what-causes-lightning/http://www.hk-phy.org/iq/lightning/lightning_e.htmlhttp://www.lightandlightning.com/what-is-lightning/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvesting_lightning_energyhttp://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1821830/are_tgfs_hazardous_to_air_travelers/http://www-star.stanford.edu/~vlf/palmer/palmer.htmhttp://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/08/antimatter-signature-spotted-in-earths-lightning/http://faculty.icc.edu/easc111lab/labs/labi/prelab_i.htmlhttp://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Lightning_Power

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