Gemelie G.

Chan

Grade 7-Amity(1)

Difference between charging & discharging

No difference is there. if you connect an uncharged one to a battery/voltage source,current flow will be there for a short time which will tend to charge or in more precise manner will develop charge on its plates.if you connect this charged one to a resister or some load,then capacitor will itself act as a voltage source sending current in the circuit at the expense of the charge present on it.this is discharging current.both are same bunt one tends to put up charge while other does the opposite.

What is lighting?
Lightning is a massive electrostatic discharge caused by unbalanced electric charges in the atmosphere, and resulting in a strike, from a cloud to itself, a cloud to a cloud or a cloud to ground, and accompanied by the loud sound of thunder. A typical cloud to ground lightning strike jumps a 5 km (3 mi) gap through the air. A typical thunderstorm has three or more strikes per minute at its peak. Lightning is usually produced by cumulonimbus clouds based 56 km (3-4 mi) above the ground and that are themselves up to 15 km (9 mi) in height. Lightning also occurs during snow storms (thundersnow), volcanic eruptions, dust storms, forest fires or tornadoes. Hurricanestypically generate some lightning, mainly in the rainbands as much as 160 km (100 mi) from the center. When the local electric field exceeds the dielectric strength of damp air (about 3 million volts per meter), electrical discharge results in astrike, often followed by commensurate discharges branching from the same path. (See image, right.) Mechanisms that cause the charges to build up to lightning are still a matter of scientific investigation. Lightning may be caused by the circulation of warm moisturefilled air through electric fields. Ice or water particles then accumulate charge as in a Van de Graaff generator .The science of lightning is called fulminology. The fear of lightning is called astraphobia.

Where does lightning originate?

it comes from the clouds and the friction of the clouds like when you play with a balloon and when you put it by your hair it makes your hair stick up. Well its just like that but bigger. another example would be this is something cool you can see at home if you want* after you do a load of socks if there are some stuck together turn off the lights and take them apart slowly and you can see a little bit of electricity in them right lightning is just the build up of electrons in the clouds (or ground rarely but sometimes) and needs a quick ruit to the ground, it results in a lightning strike.

How powerful is lightning bolt?

Using electricity as the medium, this magic creates a small lightning bolt that penetrates the target. While the lightning hits the target in the blink of an eye, the pain inflicted on the target is prolonged. Lightningbolt can be even more powerful when combined with the spells by other casters around you. It can also spread out to other targets other than the main target. Repeatedly preparing Lightningbolt can reinforce such a chain reaction.

Can lightning energy be caught stored and used?

If lightning could be fully harnessed, the energy captured could power the world. The energy in every lightning event is huge and scientists have been seeking ways to capture the energy. There are two problems that have not been overcome and prevent lightning being useful. The first is that the location of lightning is unpredictable. There is little point in mounting a lighting capture device (if one existed) in a location to find that lightning does not strike in that location. Guiding a lightning strike is in the same order of difficulty as taming a hurricane or altering the tides. Next, when lighting does strike, it releases so much energy that it is almost impossible to build a device that can capture and store any of the energy. Lighting is known to destroy buildings, trees and other structures. Electrical and electronic equipment is damaged by lighting strikes and so far, attempts at capturing any part of the energy have been experimental, cumbersome and very inefficient. The research will continue and in the future, it may be possible to see domestic energy derived from lightning. But, we have a long way to go before we see it.

How many people are killed by lightning per year?

According to the U.S. National Weather Service, 73 people die from lightning strikes each year and hundreds more suffer life-debilitating injuries. Memory loss, attention deficits, sleep disorders, numbness, dizziness, and weakness are some of the maladies cited.

Some people have been hit by lightning many times. Why have they survived?
Matt Thompson in Keystone Colorado was struck directly through his body. There are stories of people all over the world that have got hit by a lightning and survived. A key factor is that they have been working out and been covered in sweat or being very wet from rain itself. This seem to have saved them from the actual current going through the body instead of outside of body.Some people wearing necklaces have even had these melted/burned into the skin around their neck due to the intense power of the lightning.I have even heard about one single person being hit by lightning 3 times. I think the lightning got the better of him the last time, but he survived the first two. It is an interesting fact that people can survive such an experience. It is however so many people throughout the world with such an experience that it is a bit difficult to actually make a list of them all here.I cant really see the use of it. I am sure most of them prefer a nice and calm life.

What can you do to prevent yourself from being struck by lightning?

If lightning strikes near you, the ground itself will have current flowing through it, so there will be a voltage difference between any two different points on the ground. If you keep your feet close together, you minimize the voltage difference between your feet, which minimizes the current flow thorugh your legs.

How many bushfires are started by lightning strikes?

about 3000 per year

Lightning never strikes twice in the same place. Is this a myth or a fact?
MYTH: The old saying that 'lightning never strikes the same place twice' is another myth that any veteran storm observer or researcher has seen nature defy. Lightning can strike any location more than once. In fact, given enough time, it is actually inevitable. It may take as little as less than ten minutes within a single thunderstorm, or longer than a million years - but lightning will eventually strike the spot again and again. A strike to any location does nothing to change the electrical activity in the storm above, which will produce another strike as soon as it 'recharges'. The previously hit location is then just as fair game for the next discharge as any other spot.

What are lightning rods? How do they function?

-A lightning rod (US, AUS) or lightning conductor (UK) is a metal rod or metallic object mounted on top of a building, electrically bonded using a wire or electrical conductor to interface with ground or "earth" through an electrode, engineered to protect the building in the event of lightning strike. If lightning hits the building it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducted to ground through the wire, instead of passing through the building, where it could start a fire or cause electrocution. A lightning rod is a single component in a lightning protection system. Lightning rods are also called finials, air terminals or strike termination devices.The lighting rod requires a connection to earth to perform its protective function. Lightning rods come in many different forms, including hollow, solid, pointed, rounded, flat strips or even bristle brush-like. The main attribute of all lightning rods is they are conductive. Copper and its alloys are the most common materials used in lightning protection. - A positively charged lightning rod provides a way for the negative charge built up along the bottom of the cloud to become grounded. Therefore the lightning is attracted to the lightning rod since the negative charge is constantly trying to find a way to disperse into either the ground or a positive charge. Since the lightning rod is the highest point in the area, it attracts the negative ions from the cloud, while the cloud retains the positive ones. Hence, there is a chain of ions existing between the cloud and the lightning rod, allowing there to be a conductor between the two. As the lightning strikes, it hits the lightning rod, and is carried safely into the ground