UNKNOWN phenomenon: VIDEO The lightning struck one place up to 11 times, what about our meteorologist? How is it possible – Topky.sk

It was all supposed to happen in China. The video, which has been circulating on social networks in recent days, captures a very unusual event. According to the DailyMail portal, lightning struck the street lamp, which was located near the family house. It wouldn’t be strange if it hadn’t happened eleven times in a row. People began to think about the truth of the statement that lightning would not hit the same place twice. What does the meteorologist say?

Huge temperature and speed

“Lightning occurs between the centers of electric charge of opposite polarity. The discharge occurs either between the positive and negative center inside the cloud, or between the cloud and the ground. The discharge can also occur between the centers of charge of two nearby clouds (inter-cloud discharge), respectively. between the cloud and the open atmosphere, ” introduced Pavel Matejovič. He added that the development of lightning consists of several phases, and in the case of a discharge between the cloud and the ground, a lightning nucleus is formed inside the cloud. This is happening in an area with a sufficiently strong electric field.

“The first, the so-called the stepped leader progresses almost invisibly to the earth’s surface, most often in successive steps at a speed of about 200 km / s. The process of the guiding discharge in individual steps is explained by the fact that in its path the intensity of the electric field falls below a certain critical limit and the movement of the discharge is then stopped for several tens of microseconds, while the intensity of the electric field increases sufficiently during this time., “ Matejovič explained. As he subsequently added, as such a conducting discharge approaches the earth’s surface, an electric discharge will most often begin to rise upwards from some elevated object. This is usually against a discharge, and then the two discharges come together, causing the channel to close.

Source: TASR / AP

“In the channel of highly ionized air thus formed, a return stroke then begins to propagate upwards, which is optically much brighter and a current in the order of tens of kA flows through it., ” warned the meteorologist. According to him, the speed of the return discharge is an order of magnitude higher than the speed of the guiding discharge, reaching a value of up to 20,000 kilometers per second. In addition, the temperature in the lightning channel during the return discharge ranges from up to 30,000 degrees Celsius.

Is the statement true?

“It simply came to our notice then it results in a sudden increase in the volume of air and the creation of a pressure wave, which we hear acoustically as thunder. The first return discharge may be followed in the same channel by further guiding and return discharges. In fact, a single visible flash usually consists of several successive flashbacks. “ Matejovič explained, adding that the time between individual discharges is in the order of hundreds of milliseconds. The total discharge time is usually less than a second.

Source: Getty Images

Therefore, if the flash is captured in an image, it is necessary to determine the length of its time recording. Subsequently, it is analyzed from the captured image whether it was a flash with return discharges, or whether it was several separate flashes in a row. He added that there are certain places that are more attracted to lightning, such as raised metal objects connected to the mains or lightning conductors.

“If there is a strong electric field in the atmosphere, it can excite lightning discharges several times in a row in short periods of time. whereas. the lightning activity can continue until the difference between the opposite polarities of the electric charges is compensated. In such a case, the lightning looks for the place of least resistance so that the electric discharge can take place as efficiently as possible, while in a relatively short time the individual phases of the lightning in a particular channel can go immediately after each other several times in a row., “ Matejovič concluded.