Interesting Information about Lightning

•  Jul 10, 2014
•  Complete

What is Lightning?

Lightning; everyone knows it as something that you thought was awesome, or it absolutely terrified you as a child. Lightning is defined as a massive electrostatic discharge between the electrically charged regions within clouds or between a cloud and the surface of something. When there is lightning, there is always a chance for fire.Every year, lightning causes about 25,000 fires ranging from forest fires to house fires. Did you know that the amount of damage resulting from that many fires amounts to about 405 million dollars? Only about a fifth of those fires are house fires. Not so intimidating right? Not all lightning strikes have the potential to start a fire though. Some flashes contain something known as a continuing current. In a continuing current, the charge flows continuously over the surface which causes the object to heat up and quite possibly starting a fire.Here are some facts about lightning:

• A lightning bolt has a temperature of about 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that’s about 4 times the heat of the sun!
• There are about 3 million lightning strikes a day! That means lightning strikes 40 times a second all over the world!
• The “leader” drops in steps of about 150 feet each at about 136,000 mph. This happens until it almost reaches the ground. That’s when an electrical charge called a “streamer” rises up to meet it and complete the circuit.
• Lightning struck about and killed 23 people in 2013. Which was a record low for lightning strikes since they’ve been recording data on it. A comparison would be the year 1943, 432 people were struck and killed.

If you have damage due to a lightning fire, give us a call at Complete for all your cleanup and repair needs!

You can reach us 24/7 at 850.CALL.DKI.