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A beautiful series of photos (and some knowledge) of the most furious and arguably the most incredible of natural phenomena - The power of the lightning bolt. This awesome display of released electricity has created thousands of myth and related gods around the world. In Ancient Greek, Zeus used lightning bolts as his personal weapon. Other gods related to lightning are the Aztec god Tlaloc, the Mayas' God K, Thor in Norse mythology, Ukko in Finnish mythology, the Hindu god Indra, and the Shinto god Raijin. |
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Lightning is a massive electrostatic discharge between electrically charged regions within clouds, or between a cloud and the Earth's surface. |
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The charged regions within the atmosphere temporarily equalize themselves through a lightning flash, commonly referred to as a strike if it hits an object on the ground. |
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There are three primary types; from a cloud to itself (intra-cloud or IC); from one cloud to another cloud (CC) and finally between a cloud and the ground (CG). |
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Although lightning is always accompanied by the sound of thunder, distant lightning may be seen but be too far away for the thunder to be heard. |
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Lightning occurs approximately 40–50 times a second worldwide, resulting in nearly 1.4 billionflashes per year.
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