14 DAY TRIAL // There are three natural phenomena accompanying the storms that fascinated and frightened human mind since prehistory, when explanation for such powerful natural phenomenon were attributed to gods and spirits.
The thunderbolt is an electric discharge accompanied by a vivid light and a powerful sound, which occurs between two clouds or between a cloud and the ground or objects on the ground. The thunder is a noise associated with an atmospheric electric discharge, lightening or thunderbolt.
The lightning is a luminous electric discharge produced by two clouds or inside a cloud. During a strong storm, 8,000-9,000 electric discharges take place in one hour. Daily, 8 million lightnings are produced in the atmosphere. The temperature of a "fire sword" is hotter than the surface of the Sun, and it lights the sky with a power of million of watts. Some lightnings have a potential difference of about 1,000 million volts, and the intensity of the electric current may be of 20,000 Amperes.
In the mountain zones, lightnings can reach a maximum length of 100 m (330 ft) while in the plain they can measure even 30 km (19 mi). The average length of lightning is of 2-3 km (1.2-1.9 mi).
Llightning lasts, on average, 0.00004 seconds. The strongest lightnings ever recorded had a duration of 0.001 seconds. The fact that we perceive the lightning as a powerful light of about one second is just an optic illusion caused by the reaction of the eye retina. Lightnings kill 100 persons in US annually, and injure another 250. Lightnings cannot be impeded; they must be headed towards secure locations.
When positive charges accumulate in lower clouds, the lightning strikes the ground, which is positively charged. Lightning rods are used for attracting the lightning to the ground in secure areas. Some specialists think about equipment that would reach the clouds and "extract" the lightnings from their interior... Laser impulses sent to the Earth would create an electron passage through the air, which would be followed by the lightning towards a secure ground outlet.
Lightning are important in creating the world's weather. There are three main storm areas on Earth: America, Africa and Australia. Two of them are diametrically opposed: America and Australia. A lightning produced in South America attracts energy from that part, but this will be felt in Australia, backward and forward. The energy dispersed around the world makes the storms in an area to be counterbalanced by a quiet weather in the opposed zone.
Concerning the trees, the thunderbolt and lightning have their preferences, the first place being occupied by the oak. At the opposite pole, the most avoided trees are the birch and the laurel. This predilection is directly connected to the profundity of the roots.
The zigzag shape of the thunderbolt and lightning appears because the rarefied air is a better conductor for the electricity than the compressed air. Passing through portions of rarefied air, its enormous heat causes other compressions and rarities, having to change its trajectory constantly. That's why you'd better not run when caught by a storm with thunderbolts.