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lightning
Table of Contents
Introduction & Top Questions References & Edit History Related Topics
Images & Videos
lightning discharge
Is ball lightning real?
electrical charge distribution in a thunderstorm triggered lightning
What causes thunder and lightning?
lightning and thunder lightning rod types lightning rod protection system for a residential building lightning: cloud-to-ground Lightning flash striking a tree at a distance of 60 metres from the camera.
Quizzes
Lightning over a farm field. Weather electricity thunderstorm light energy tree
Facts You Should Know: Weather Quiz
Umbrella colored like a rainbow sticking out above a sea of black umbrellas while it rains. (storm, weather)
Weather Words Vocabulary Quiz
rain. Child in the rain, wearing a rain coat, under a yellow umbrella. April Showers weather climate rain storm water drops
April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs
battery. Illustration of battery connected to lightbulb. Power a light bulb with a battery. Battery, Power Supply, Science, Circuit, Currents
Electricity: Short Circuits & Direct Currents
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
13 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Easiest Science Quizzes
Related Questions
Read Next
Lightning over the outskirts of Oradea, Rom., during the thunderstorm of August 17, 2005.
16 Questions About Earth’s Atmsophere and Weather Answered
Lightning over a farm field. Weather electricity thunderstorm light energy tree
Can Lightning Strike the Same Place Twice?
Discover
Title: Senate Square, St. Petersburg, December 14, 1825: repression of the troop mutiny - watercolor by Carl Ivanovitch Kollman, 1825 depicts Decembrist uprising clashing with cavalry, with spectators watching. (new style December 26, 1825) Europe. Saint
8 of the Largest Empires in History
Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics
10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.
10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci
A human Inuit skull in a stone chambered cairn in Ilulissat in Greenland. These ancient graves are pre christian and are at least 2000
14 Tough Questions Answered
A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
Diverse elementary school children wearing school uniforms running outside of school. Boys girls
Pro and Con: School Uniforms
Thanksgiving Turkey with all the sides
Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?

lightning: Media

meteorology
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Videos

Is ball lightning real?
Learn about the mysterious phenomenon of ball lightning.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
What causes thunder and lightning?
Learn about lightning and thunder.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Discover how rapid updrafts of warm air form cumulonimbus clouds resulting in heavy rains and lightning
Formation of a thunderstorm.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Learn the science of lightning strikes and see how Faraday cages or Faraday suits channel lightning away from the objects they contain
The physics of lightning strikes and how Faraday cages or Faraday suits channel lightning...
Video: © MinuteEarth (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Observe the density of lightning flashes in a typical year with its highest rate in South America, Africa, and Australasia
As demonstrated by the animation, lightning activity year-round is greatest over...
Video: Adapted from NASA

Images

lightning discharge
Cloud-to-ground lightning discharge showing a bright main channel and secondary branches.
Copyright John Cancalosi
electrical charge distribution in a thunderstorm
When the electrical charges become sufficiently separated in a thundercloud, with...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
triggered lightning
Triggered lightning. This discharge is triggered by the presence of the tall tower...
Richard E. Orville
lightning and thunder
(Top) As shown in the chart, the elapsed time between seeing a flash of lightning...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
lightning rod types
(Left top) Vertical rods or masts up to 15 metres in height create lightning protection...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
lightning rod protection system for a residential building
The flow of electricity from a lightning strike is channeled harmlessly around the...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
lightning: cloud-to-ground
Cloud-to-ground lightning discharge from a cumulonimbus cloud to a field.
© Hemera/Thinkstock
Lightning flash striking a tree at a distance of 60 metres from the camera.
Richard E. Orville
Lightning over Oradea, Romania
Lightning over the outskirts of Oradea, Rom., during the thunderstorm of August 17,...
Mircea Madau
thunderstorm: rain and lightning
Rain and lightning during a thunderstorm in Arizona.
© Deep Desert Photo/stock.adobe.com
Lightning storms on JupiterThese...
Photo NASA/JPL/Caltech (NASA photo # PIA01636)
Spectrum of a lightning flash.
William S. Bickel, University of Arizona, Tucson
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