What are the basic types of lightning?

Lightning is a strong discharge phenomenon between clouds, between clouds and the ground, or between different parts of clouds (usually in cumulonimbus clouds).

Basic types are divided into ordinary types and special types, as shown below:

Common type:

The most common lightning is linear lightning, which is some very bright white, pink or light blue lines. It looks like a river with many branches on the map, and it hangs in the sky like a winding tree. In addition to linear lightning, there are spherical lightning and chain lightning, both of which are relatively rare. Linear lightning, strip lightning, flake lightning, rocket lightning, ball lightning and bead lightning will all do harm to human beings, so you can't go out.

Spherical lightning usually occurs after linear lightning. It is a fireball with a diameter of about 20 cm, emitting red or orange light, and occasionally emitting beautiful green, usually lasting for several seconds. Fireballs drift in the air with the wind, like to slide along the edge of objects, and can enter the room through gaps. When they are about to disappear, there will be a deafening explosion.

Among all kinds of lightning, the rarest is the combined bead lightning, which most people in the world have never seen. This lightning is like a string of shining pearls extending from the clouds to the ground. Because it is rare and lasts for a short time, there is little research on the cause of this lightning, and the reason for its formation is still unclear.

Beaded lightning

Beaded lightning looks like a connecting line that slides on the cloud curtain or throws it to the ground through the clouds, and it also looks like a sparkling pearl necklace. Some people think that bead lightning seems to be a transitional form from linear lightning to spherical lightning. Beaded lightning often follows linear lightning with almost no time interval.

Rocket lightning

Rocket lightning is much slower than other kinds of lightning, and it takes L ~ 1.5 seconds to fully discharge. Its activities are easy to track and observe with the naked eye.

Special type

race

Generally, lightning is mostly blue, red or white, but sometimes there are black lightning. Due to the action of sunlight, cloud electric field and some physical and chemical factors in the atmosphere, a particle with very active chemical properties will be produced in the sky. Under the action of electromagnetic field, these particles gather together to form many spheres. This ball will not give off energy, but it can exist for a long time. It has no light and is opaque, so it can only be observed during the day.

One thing is comforting: when you see lightning, it can't hit you.

The formation of black lightning is beyond the explanation of scientists. For a long time, people's minds only have blue and white lightning, which is a natural phenomenon of atmospheric discharge in the air, usually accompanied by dazzling light! I've never seen "black lightning" that doesn't shine. But through long-term observation and research, scientists have indeed proved the existence of "Black Lightning".

1On June 23rd, 974, chernov, an astronomer of the former Soviet Union, saw a "black lightning" in Zabarozh: at first it was a strong spherical lightning, and then a mass of black things flew behind, which looked like a foggy condensate. Research and analysis show that Black Lightning is produced by molecular aerogel aggregates, and these aggregates are hot and charged substances, which are easy to explode or transform into spherical lightning, which is extremely dangerous.

lightning

According to observation and research, Black Lightning is generally not easy to appear near the ground. If it appears, it is easy to hit trees, masts, houses and other metals. Generally, it is a lump or a lump. At first glance, it looks like a dirty thing, which is easily overlooked by people, but it contains a lot of energy. Therefore, it is a lightning family with great danger and harm. In particular, Black Lightning is small and difficult to be captured by radar; And it is very "favored" for metal objects; Therefore, it is called "aerial dark mine" by pilots. If the plane touches black lightning during the flight, the consequences are unimaginable. Whenever black lightning is close to the ground, it is easy to be mistaken for a bird or something else, which is not easy to arouse people's vigilance and attention; If you hit with a stick, it will explode quickly, and there is a danger of breaking people into pieces. In addition, Black Lightning is similar to spherical lightning, and general lightning protection facilities, such as lightning rods, lightning balls and lightning nets, cannot protect Black Lightning; Therefore, it often reaches the vicinity of oil storage tanks, gas storage tanks, transformers and explosives depots with extremely strict lightning protection measures. Don't go near it at this moment. Should be avoided, focusing on personal safety.

The reason for the formation of lightning is that the airflow in thunderstorm clouds will generate static electricity due to the friction and decomposition of water molecules. There are two kinds of electricity. One is that positively charged particles are positively charged, and the other is that negatively charged particles are negatively charged. Positive and negative charges attract each other, just like magnets. The positive charge is at the top of the cloud, and the negative charge attracts the positive charge on the ground at the bottom of the cloud. The air between the cloud and the ground is an insulator, which will prevent the current with bipolar charge from passing through. When the charge in the thunderstorm cloud and the charge on the ground become strong enough, these two parts of charge will break through the air barrier and contact to form strong current, positive charge and negative charge contact. When these opposite charges meet, neutralization (discharge) will occur. Strong charge neutralization will release a lot of light and heat, and these released light will form lightning.

Red lightning

Most lightning strikes will happen twice in a row. The first time it was called lead flash, it was an invisible air that went down to the place close to the ground. This charged air is like a wire, which establishes a guide for the second current. At the moment when the pilot approaches the ground, a tie-back current jumps up along this guide path, and the flash generated by this tie-back is the lightning we usually see.

Super lightning

Super lightning refers to those rare lightning whose power exceeds ordinary lightning 100 times. The electricity generated by ordinary lightning is about 1 megawatt, while the electricity generated by super lightning is at least 1 megawatt, and may even reach trillions to 1 megawatt.

Clock Island in Newfoundland was obviously struck by a super lightning at 1978. Even the houses at 13 km away rattled, and the windows and doors of the whole village were sprayed with blue flames.

Submarine lightning

There is also lightning at the bottom of the sea, which was discovered by scientists from the former Soviet Union at the bottom of Japan. Sensitive electric field instruments show that the frequency of submarine discharge is the same as that of lightning in the atmosphere, which puzzles scientists. Because according to the laws of hydrogeology, deep seawater has good conductivity, so it should be out of reach with Lei Gong Dian Mu.

After repeated experiments, scientists finally believe that the charge source actually comes from the air on the land near the coast, and then travels through rocks all the way to the bottom of the sea. However, with the increase of conduction distance, the amount of electricity gradually decreases. Therefore, the flow measured on the seabed is generally weak.

Purple lightning

The lightning generated by a single cloud system on the ground and near the earth is mostly blue-purple lightning, which is very thick and directly inserted into the ground. This is very destructive. In the sky, lightning generated by two or more cloud systems is mostly bright white or reddish light. In fact, lightning is an arc discharge, which emits white light and contains a lot of ultraviolet rays, so it gives people a purple feeling. The color of light is only a part, and red mainly comes from the chemical changes of some gases in the air under the action of strong light. Blue-white light that produces colored gas is light with different wavelengths seen by naked eyes. When the clouds move violently, the fire, that is, lightning, is very powerful. It ionizes air and produces violet light with short wavelength and high energy, and vice versa.

Red lightning

For decades, only pilots have been lucky enough to see this incredible natural phenomenon of red elves. Marko Korosec, a 32-year-old photographer from Sezana, Slovenia, tracked the storm for several months and finally successfully captured a rare red elf photo in a cornfield in Vivaro, Italy, 320 kilometers away. He said, "I've been trying to catch them for months. I am satisfied with the result. The details of the red elf in the photo are quite unforgettable. "

These rare luminaries are accompanied by thunderstorms, which occur at an altitude of more than 80 kilometers and last only a few milliseconds. This incredible flickering light is caused by the huge discharge of lightning in the air, and it gets a deep red tone in the process of colliding with nitrogen molecules in the air. People can see the red elves in the ionosphere D area. This area is just above the dense lower atmosphere, about 60 to 90 kilometers above the ground. [ 1]