this is the most powerful electrical
force
from a bar
generations on history now the latest
camera technology reveals its most
shocking secrets
around the world lightning strikes more
than eight million times every day
a hundred times a second
a bolt of lightning supersedes the
surrounding air causing it to rapidly
expand and exploded
shockwave creates a clap of thunder
it discharges inside the underclass
to lead the clouds it can strike
anywhere on Earth
delivering at room of electricity
energy to power an entire city
running across the center of florida is
america's lightning hot spot known as
lightning Ali every year there are over
50 strikes per square mile and every
year people hit on a September evening
in 1999 fisherman Dave Grohl Meyer had
just cast his line into the lake without
warning a bolt of lightning struck down
from the cloud above him with shocking
consequences
here what's left of it was about a 74
offices so hot it burned your box you
way that parade and left nothing but the
carbon fibers at the end of the road it
wasn't just the rod that was damaged
Dave suffered multiple burns it was the
condition of his close to reveal the
true power of the strike zipper was all
gone and I several months later I asked
her medical was hearing things stuck in
me he goes your zipper was almost burned
on yours dear Adam that's how hot it got
what's left
0 my beeper was at my side doesn't look
too bad there compared to what to be
from the cliff and I got it back
deep thought his boots were untouched
until he saw strange pin holes with a
lightning finally left his body I guess
the literacy passed in my body to the
bottom of the shoe and jumped over the
hill and back to the ground grounded so
deep was one of the lucky ones one out
of ten lightning strike victims dies
instantly
across North America more people are
killed by lightning and by tornadoes or
hurricanes but there is a place on earth
but even more dangerous the heart of the
equatorial africa here there are more
likely strikes than anywhere else on
earth
dr. Lou Williams of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology is a world
authority on lightning
using data from NASA satellite he
calculates that lightning strikes the
Congo Basin twice as many times as
Florida
in some places there are over 300
strikes per square mile every year but
lightning in this part of the world has
rarely been studied so today at the
border between Zambia and the Democratic
Republic of Congo to witness the
Lightning for himself
as darkness falls the thunderstorms
again
the high rates of lightning is very
exciting
some strikes can't be seen with the
naked eye so one way to count them is by
using an optical sensor that beeps every
time there's a flash
an average storm producers around two
strikes a minute here
measures more than sixty minute
definitely living up to expectations are
producing lightning raids which are
extraordinarily on this is really the
best place to study liking
provides the perfect conditions large
electrical storms as the earth is heated
by the Sun it produces lots of warm
moist air
arises as against height the moisture
cools and condenses to form clouds
these clients grow and merge into larger
ones rising all the time
some of the water drops become too heavy
for the updraft of air to lift and solid
frame
by powerful air conscious high into the
cold Abu regions where they freeze in a
tiny crystals of ice
as the cloud hits the base of the
stratosphere it spreads out sideways to
form the anvil ship typical of thunder
clouds
clouds that make widening of the largest
clouds in the atmosphere a big active
cumulonimbus cloud is about as wide as
it is deep and they generate long
animals which extend horizontally in the
prevailing winds aloft some ice crystals
building size to form small hail stones
scientists believe that is these hills
Stone's fall back through the rising ice
crystals millions of tiny collisions
occur these collisions build up an
electric charge which is stored in the
cloud
battery
cloud is very much like a battery but a
battery with a much higher voltage in
the typical flashlight battery not one
and a half full but polls
but what scientists don't know exactly
how this electric charge generates like
this
remains a major meteorological mystery
is how it is that ice particle
collisions result in a generation of
lightning were very much in the Middle
Ages on that problem
it's extremely difficult to study
lightning since each strike last just a
fraction of a second
one of the best ways to investigated
mister freeze the action using a camera
Damon Stillings is a photographer who
patrols lightning Ali pursuit electric
storms for the last thirty years he's
been obsessed with like my last four
cents in my gas tank and then I can go
Jason storm
his success rate is less than one
percent when he does capture lightning
the results are spectacular
76 this was a personal one and when it
popped out of that card right there with
a blue sky and they're in a purple cloud
from that point on lightning was
everything I want to photograph
this particular one it's got so many
bolts of lightning and they all happened
at the same time this is in 2004 the
shutter could have been open more than
one second
purple sky gold sense at all the neat
stuff that I love to see out there and
it all came together one photograph
school before David can even begin to
photograph like
he has to find it
might be getting high enough to produce
lightning and the Sun is breaking
through it is going to hit up the
humidity is going to start school this
is as a potential
good stuff
has found a thunderstorm that will
produce lightning now the challenge is
to point his camera in the right
direction right there and average storm
here will produce a couple of lightning
flashes every minute but it's impossible
to predict where they will strike next
this lightning can strike anything and
anyone up to twenty-five miles away from
the club
to use a traditional film camera so we
never knows whether he's got this shot
until he gets the process photos back
there after all I gotta say occasionally
David's patience pays off and he manages
to capture the elusive phenomenon on
film this is this is needed
the bottom line is you have to be
addicted to something look
picture of a lightning strike frozen in
time can be hard
photography is also extremely valuable
for scientific analysis
by lightning appears to travel from the
clouds directly to the ground but recent
advances in video camera technology
revealed that the anatomy of lightning
is much more complex
this is the USAir force Atmospheric
Research Center in Colorado Springs here
dr. Jeff McHargue is using a super slow
motion camera to capture like me to do
this he needs split second timing
fishing you just have to get lucky and
get a lightning bolt inside your field
of view
success is rare but two years ago
McHargue hit the gym simply watching the
lightning get closer and closer and I
kept recording it and I didn't know what
I had until I went back and reviewed for
the first time ever
jeff had recorded the birth of a
lightning bolt in super slow motion
when playback it shows a flash of light
turnout of a cloud and zigzag downward
in roughly 15 yards segments
this first stage of lightning is called
a stepped leader leader coming down here
looking for ground going back and forth
you can see the torturous channel is
taking is it divides back and forth as
these stepped leader gets close to the
earth it has an extraordinary effect on
objects on the ground they respond to
the strong electric field by growing
positive streamers
these regions anywhere between three and
a few hundred feet above the ground as
seen in these rare photographs
finally stepped leader and a positive
streamer meet the electric charge can
drain to earth resulting in a blinding
flash of ride thing higher fuel of you
light up that's the main part of the
lightning strike that your iPod touch
of cameras has enabled scientists to
record a strike that last just a
fraction of a second back over 200 times
slower to analyze its detail these super
slow motion images show this template
leader making the connection with the
ground tired charge then dreams from the
cloud above seen as a series of pulses
using the latest camera technology
scientists are beginning to unravel the
mysteries of lightning
research has revealed that hot and human
city environments can cause much more
frequent lightning storms is the
lightning capital of the United States
with more lightning than anywhere else
from the State University of New York
believes the reason the city attracts
like this because Tampa is an urban heat
island
caused by the fact that the city has a
lot of improving the services of a lot
of a soft solar radiation that ever to
get to rehabilitate dwarfs the area in
the city a city can be as much as 15
degrees warmer than the surrounding
areas as the warm air rises it creates
strong conviction in the atmosphere over
the city
can cause more thunderstorms as it
develops and convergence zone over the
city which helps lift the air and
initiate more thunderstorms
the creation of thunderstorms is
inevitable
and warm humid climates like Tampa Bay
Florida in Houston Texas are very
capable of producing more thunderstorms
and lightning which is more dangerous to
the public live in all cities scientific
research has recently produced
scientists time warner has been using
high-speed photography to uncover a
previously hidden world of lightning
we're seeing things in such a way that
we never seen before
using a battery of cameras he's managed
to capture some astonishing images which
show lightning traveling not from cloud
to ground but shooting upwards
has been known about these pictures have
finally confirmed the existence
is the first time and such detail as
we're seeing right now and understanding
of physics relating to these upper
lashes is increasing monthly tom has
observed that upward lightning is
triggered by a nearby cloud to ground
lightning strike in this image a
lightning strike produces a bright flash
of light in his second it initiates the
formation of upward leaders from to
radio masts why this happens is still a
mystery but times theory is that the
lightning strike causes large amounts of
electric charge to build up around the
top of the tall structure and discharge
leaps up and connects with the cloud
above
between takes place and then the leader
is shot up from the tower 10th and goes
up for the images Thomas filmed over the
last few years have astounded the world
of lightning science
without state of the art technology but
to see one of the greatest lightning
displays on the planet
the only equipment you need is your eyes
Maracaibo a team of scientists from the
University of the cilia are sending out
in search of the region's legendary
capital no lightning
unusual conditions in this area
create a unique kind of lightning
bubbles up from rotting vegetation in
the swamps and rivers and Lake Maracaibo
oilfields also produce methane gas as a
by-product it all relates in the
atmosphere above the marshes
as night falls the scientists are hoping
for an electrical storm so they can
study the extraordinary effects of the
gas
is lighter than air as it rises up in
the clouds it feeds the storm greening
brighter much more colorful lightning
professor and he'll move and his team
think there may be more nimble lightning
and the I found out there are flashes so
we still need to do some research leads
from cloud to cloud and is much more
powerful than cloud to ground lightning
on average it can be seen on two hundred
nights of the year for up to 10 hours a
night
our heart that's used for navigation it
was known as the Maracaibo lighthouse
a distance but up close like this
during a thunderstorm the most dangerous
place to be is in a wide open space
including any large expanse of water
and it's true that sheltering under a
tree some bad idea
lightning can turn tree sap into
superheated steam making the tree
explode in a shower of potentially
deadly spiders
lightning can also travel down telephone
buys
there is a very scary morning signed in
danger
and coming down from there is a negative
leader that if you don't do something
right now when they connect
this happens to you the best thing to do
is to quickly squat down on the balls of
your feet
student Carolyn there had no warning she
was in danger she was making our way to
class at the University of South Florida
in Tampa when lightning struck crack of
thunder and within a second I thought a
light basically the corridor in front of
me
of palm trees with over both picture and
I thought the electricity start going
through my entire body feel it every
ounce every inch of my body my muscles
expanded that contracted very tightly
every nerve just could feel that
pressure going through my entire body
the after effects are devastating
completely fallen life in with lobster
red it was basically like I had a very
very severe sunburn so afterwards
everything almost killed off
contains up to 200,000 camps but it
takes just one tenth of an a half hours
victims survived a lightning strike and
lived to tell about it
doctors at the University of Illinois
have been trying to find the answer
professor mary anne cooper is an expert
on what happens when lightning strikes
to a person
the vast majority of the energy goes
around the outside of the person through
them instead of striking vital organs
the charge follows the moisture in the
skin and down to the ground
behind scars and bookmarks
that's going around the outside and made
from the rain water or this whether the
person has on them in the steam
sometimes the buildup of steam in
clothing shoes can have explosive
consequences
you may have heard about it people in
explosions were blown out of their shoes
that's what we can see sometimes with
lightning as well because that's where
the water expands tremendously
we actually see more damage to the
inside of footwear and sometimes the
clothing and we think the answer
lightning strike can cause cardiac
arrest but this is rare
survived lightning injury although they
may have permanent problems including
damage to the nervous system and Cooper
is still suffering from the damaging
power of a strike on the beach with my
book minding my own business doing
nothing extraordinary change forever by
lightning I don't remember that actually
been of being struck through my friends
and family that I know secondhand what
exactly happened to me on that fateful
day Destin beach in florida was hot and
sunny family says that they heard a clap
of thunder lightning
everyone else is starting to scurry pick
up their belongings because the
Lightning right wing so close I was
sitting with my feet in the sand and the
lightning struck the city and and then
came up through my feet and was rushed
to the hospital with extensive burns
later she still suffers from mobility
problems and short-term memory loss
very computer crash
I look by
but on the inside my circuitry
experience could happen to anyone so
it's vital to know exactly what to do to
protect yourself a lightning strike
forms people's lives can be at risk
tell people when Thunder roars go
indoors what we mean is secrecy for
shelter and a thunderstorm one of the
safest places to be as an enclosed
vehicle many people believe the rubber
tires on a car will keep them safe but
that's not true
cars metal body that provides protection
as this high voltage experiment will
demonstrate
is the Lightning's an electrical
transformer that discharges
three-quarters of a million volts of
electricity
doctor lisa is an electrical engineer
who's willing to sit in a car underneath
to prove the metal body will protect her
charge is going to conduct around the
outside surface of the enclosed body so
I should be fine as long as I don't
touch the middle of the car but it's one
thing to talk about the theory and it's
another thing to put it into practice so
I guess I'm ready
the electrical charge flows around the
metal body of the car and discharges
harmlessly to the ground
I'm fine he has worked as expected my
feet are slightly tingling and because I
was nervous my hands are still together
but other than that I'm fine
the experiment has just proves the rule
of physics that an electrical charge
like lightning will always travel around
the outside surface of an enclosed metal
body passengers are unharmed has struck
by lightning
incredibly rare footage of a plane
flying into Sydney Airport shows a
dramatic strike
captures another as a plane takes off
from an airport in Japan
the passengers had no idea what happened
average every commercial aircraft is hit
once a year
fires are a common occurrence
freely is a park ranger charged with
looking after them and because they
clear the ground and encourage edible
plans bush tucker
also helped produce vital plant
fertilizers the temperature of its fifty
thousand degrees
to create nitrates
for plants
scientists have discovered that
lightning may also be playing a part in
the earth's atmosphere these images were
taken from the earth they took
scientists completely by surprise they
showed huge bursts of light flashing
over the top of electric storms
photographed in nineteen since then
scientific projects around the world
have joined the heart in 1997 scientist
Professor Richard Quest one of the first
to capture them on camera
scientific team to beatrice hill
sixty miles
even then they're hard to see that the
naked eye because they're only for a few
seconds
so richard has a special modification on
his standard camera
Richard and his team waited night taking
the camera after nearly two weeks
these flickering images of sprites here
scientists at the first two years later
dr. Geoff Carr of the USAir force me
made another breakthrough he managed to
record sprites using on the front of his
super slow motion camera
it was probably the most fun I've ever
had
taking dated was just great we took data
we recorded pretty much every take them
an incredible variety of sprites the
scientists have since now right thing
with the upper part being like the
leaves and character and the downward
tendril that we call it going like the
stock of the carrot
also captured the sea or columns pride
here we have three of them side by side
and the motion is pretty much all down
hence the name column C span
around the world as many as 10 sprites
could be shooting up from the clouds
every minute
if you think about the atmosphere the
only energy input is sunshine what we
found out that night was the night when
the Sun is of course that sprite can
actually input energy and change the
middle atmosphere that was very exciting
we didn't understand that until this
area that they may be important is for
instance in climate change
scale electrical discharges that make
the air above them glow in similar way
to a fluorescent light bulb but it will
take a lot more research before
scientists truly understand these
electrical phenomena
even though the serious study of
lightning began over two centuries ago
scientists are still struggling to
figure out what guides like things pass
chooses to strike in one place or
another
in the last few hundred years but there
is still a major meteorological mystery
solved
is that lightning has an incredible
capacity for destruction
be control
