How strong can a lightning bolt get?

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2003-02-13 09:33pm

Is their an upper limit for Naturally produced lightning? Just curious

KhyronTheBackstabber · Post by **KhyronTheBackstabber** » 2003-02-13 09:56pm

I don't know numbers but I was watching a show on the Science Channel, and they were talking about these big ass gouges on Mars, and said massive lighting bolts caused them.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-02-13 09:58pm

As the potential builds up between the ground the clouds, you will inevitably get an arc. Basically, it's impossible for this potential to keep increasing beyond a certain point because it will naturally correct itself via electrical arcing (ie- lightning). So lightning is actually a form of self-regulation and, given an environment like ours, should not get any more powerful than it already does.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-02-13 11:26pm

Doesn't it take like 7000V to send a spark through one cm of air?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-02-13 11:46pm

Darth Yoshi wrote:Doesn't it take like 7000V to send a spark through one cm of air?

Hell, ordinary automotive ignition systems pump up the voltage to as much as 30 kV. But voltage by itself doesn't really tell you anything.

Sr.mal · Post by **Sr.mal** » 2003-02-13 11:48pm

It's also the ammount of amperes that matter.

XPViking · Post by **XPViking** » 2003-02-14 01:46am

I'm no scientist by a longshot but I found this information from google:

voltage difference: up to 15 million volts
current: up to 200 000 amperes
distance: can travel up to 13 km at 0.1 the speed of light

http://www.arborsci.com/Data_Sheets/Fil ... _If_HS.pdf

XPViking

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2003-02-14 02:53am

I believe the subject of lightning came up in one of the "Lord of the Rings" threads, and the strongest it could get was GJ range.

Which brings me to another question: how does one figure out how many joules of energy are in a given quantity of voltage?

Raxmei · Post by **Raxmei** » 2003-02-14 03:05am

Connor MacLeod wrote:I believe the subject of lightning came up in one of the "Lord of the Rings" threads, and the strongest it could get was GJ range.

Which brings me to another question: how does one figure out how many joules of energy are in a given quantity of voltage?

Power = Amperage * Voltage

Energy = Power * Time

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-02-14 08:12pm

Can I just say here that I've had lightning strike less than 10m from where I was standing, holding a carbon-fibre (aka-graphite) oar vertically?