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Asked by shamail155 to Amar, Ana, Andrea, Leah, Matt on 9 Mar 2014.
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Andrea Hanvey answered on 9 Mar 2014:
eek not a physicist but blowing away some dust from some old brain cells.. lightning is actually the fourth state of matter called plasma. so its not solid liquid or gas…plasma is an ionised gas with free electrons..its also the main component of the sun
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Amar Joshi answered on 10 Mar 2014:
Lighting is like any other spark you might see – like you sometimes get taking a jumper off in the dark. It is the release of a charge stored in the clouds and or your jumper to something else. For the charge to be release it needs something to conduct is. The immense electrical force generated in storms can separate electrons from their resident atoms which can then be used to release the charge. When electrons are separated from their ‘home’ atoms it is called plasme.
Hope that helps 🙂
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Leah Fitzsimmons answered on 10 Mar 2014:
The others are right – lightning is made from plasma which is like a gas where each atom has being torn in two, giving rise to a mixture of free electrons and gas particles that are missing electrons.
Scientists can recreate this by injecting electrons into solids like Perspex and then ‘forcing’ the electron-filled Perspex to rapidly discharge by hitting it. This creates a domino effect throughout the material, with electrons rushing to be neutralised so fast that they strip other electrons away as they go. The overall effect is very dramatic and creates heat and light, just like real lightning and leaves behind a permanent image of the lightning path called a Lichtenberg figure (Google it if you get chance, it is incredible). -
Comments
shamail155 commented on :
Thank you for answering my question