[Soul Surfer]

In that case the answer is "mass" C.  it has little to do with the particles involved in the discharge which mostly stay reasonably close to where they were but the change in force between the cloud and the ground as a result of the discharge of the capacitance of the cloud.

The Wikipedia article on lightning gives the following information

An average bolt of negative lightning carries a current of 30-to-50 kiloamperes(kA), although some bolts can be up to 120kA, and transfers a charge of 5 coulombs and 500 megajoules (enough to light a 100 watt light bulb for 2 months). However, it has been observed from experiments that different locations in the US have different potentials (voltages) and currents, in an average lightning strike for that area. For example, Florida, with the largest number of recorded strikes in a given period, has a very sandy ground saturated with salt water, and is surrounded by water. California, on the other hand, has fewer lightning strikes (being dryer). Arizona, which has very dry, sandy soil and a very dry air, has cloud bases as high as 6,000-7,000 feet above ground level, and gets very long, thin, purplish discharges, which crackle; while Oklahoma, with cloud bases about 1,500-2,000 feet above ground level and fairly soft, clay-rich soil, has big, blue-white explosive lightning strikes, that are very hot (high current) and cause sudden, explosive noise when the discharge comes. Potentially, the difference in each case may consist of differences in voltage levels between clouds and ground. Research on this is still ongoing....



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[nexus (OP)]

quote:Originally posted by Soul Surfer

In that case the answer is "mass" C.  it has little to do with the particles involved in the discharge which mostly stay reasonably close to where they were but the change in force between the cloud and the ground as a result of the discharge of the capacitance of the cloud.

Now I'm befuddled. Please explain what you mean by "mass" C. I think we are going some where Soul Searcher, soon we may need to do some number crunching.

[lightarrow]

quote:Originally posted by nexus

I registered just because I wanted to ask this question.

What do you think is the average weight (or more appropriately mass) of lightning?

Soul Surfer has given all the possible answers to this question, according to the way we want to define a lightining mass.

If I had to give the simplest answer, I would say it's the mass of the moving charges. I'm thinking about an electron beam, like the one inside a TV apparatus, and I could send a bump of electrons even to the Moon (it's not necessary to have a positive charged electrode there); it's not difficult to see this image of a moving body of limited dimensions with charge and mass, exactly as a sort of little "train".


The problem is that these charges are not always electrons. Sometimes lightings are made by positive ions discharge, and the mass of the ions, not considering the degree of ionization (the mass of one or some electrons compared to the one of the atom is at least 2000 times less, so we can omit in the calculation) depends on exact air composition in that place (of the discharge).

[nexus (OP)]

ok, i'm satisfied unless someway else can take the helm