Naked Science Forum

General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Joe L. Ogan on 27/12/2009 22:11:47

Title: How can a negatively charged lightning discharge into negative charged earth?
Post by: Joe L. Ogan on 27/12/2009 22:11:47

How can a negatively charged lightning bolt discharge into a negatively charged earth?  Just what happens when lightning strikes earth? That is an awful lot of energy.  It would be nice if some of it could be saved as a source of energy on earth.  Has anyone ever tried to do this?  Thanks for your comments.  Joe L. Ogan

Title: How can a negatively charged lightning discharge into negative charged earth?
Post by: chris on 27/12/2009 22:54:40

Dear Joe

this article: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/howdothunderstormswork-2/ - should explain the mechanism of lightning and also addresses the question of how much energy is released and whether it would be practical to attempt to collect it.

Chris