How hot is a bolt of lightning as it flashes across the sky? Are the deep booms and rumbles of thunder really made by air? Are there different kinds of lightning? And how can there be electricity inside a cloud? Young readers will find out as they learn all about lightning and the heavy, dark thunderclouds it comes from. Filled with information perfectly suited to the abilities and interests of an early elementary audience, this colorful, fact-filled title gives readers a chance not only to learn, but also to develop their powers of observation and critical thinking. With its stunning photographs and surprising, high-interest facts, the book makes learning about this dramatic weather phenomenon a lively and engaging experience.

Lightning represents a natural phenomenon of substantial interest. Due to its complex nature, research continues in many countries and reveals amazing results. Lightning is actively observed because of its relevance to Earth climate and air composition in addition to the classical aspects of related human fatalities and damage to forests, buildings, power lines, aircraft, structures and electronic devices. In this volume, the most important contemporary questions on lightning are addressed and analyzed under many experimental and theoretical aspects. Lightning detection techniques using ground-based and space-borne methods are described, along with network engineering and statistical analysis. Contributions detail research on atmospheric electricity, cloud physics, lightning physics, modeling of electrical storms and middle atmospheric events. Special phenomena such as triggered lightning and sprite observations are examined. Lightning-induced nitrogen oxides and their effects on atmospheric chemistry and climate are discussed. Each topic is presented by international experts in the field. Topics include: * air chemistry * convective storms * infrasound from lightning * lightning and climate change * lightning and precipitation * lightning and radiation * lightning and supercells * lightning and thunderstorms * lightning detection * lightning from space * lighting protection * lightning return strokes * observations and interpretations * spatial distribution and frequency * triggered lightning * weather extremes

Answers questions about Franklin's experiment, lightning rods, safety considerations, property damage, ball lightning, thunder, and thunderstorms

This unique book provides the reader with a thorough background in almost every aspect of lightning and its impact on electrical and electronic equipment. The contents range from basic discharge processes in air through transient electromagnetic field generation and interaction with overhead lines and underground cables, to lightning protection and testing techniques. This book is of value to anyone designing, installing or commissioning equipment which needs to be secured against lightning strikes, as well as being a sound introduction to research students working in the field.

This book about lightning summarizes the essence of physics and effects of lightning in a non-technical manner and provides an up-to-date description of the phenomenon of lightning in simple language. Starting with the myths related to lightning, the reader is introduced to the mechanism of lightning flashes and their interactions with humans, human-made systems and Earth’s environment. Most of the available books on lightning are written for the experts in the field and there is a need for a book that introduces the undergraduate and beginning post graduate students to the subject of lightning and prepares them for more advanced books meant for the experts. This introductory book, which is based on a series of lectures given to undergraduate and postgraduate students in electrical engineering, is intended to fill this need. Tailored to the needs of university students who plan to study electrical engineering, meteorology, environmental or basic physics, it is also a valuable reference resource for laymen who are interested in knowing more on this phenomenon.

Presents the current state of the art in lightning science, for advanced undergraduate and graduate students on a single-semester course.

Note: This eBook file contains many richly detailed full-color images and makes use of unconventional page layouts. Because of this, readers will be required to zoom in on each page to read the text and see the finer detail of the artwork. [It has not been optimized for devices that display only in black and white.] From the National Book Award finalist Lauren Redniss, author of Radioactive, comes a dazzling fusion of storytelling, visual art, and reportage that grapples with weather in all its dimensions: its danger and its beauty, why it happens and what it means. WINNER OF THE PEN/E. O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND SHELF AWARENESS Weather is the very air we breathe—it shapes our daily lives and alters the course of history. In Thunder & Lightning, Lauren Redniss tells the story of weather and humankind through the ages. This wide-ranging work roams from the driest desert on earth to a frigid island in the Arctic, from the Biblical flood to the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Redniss visits the headquarters of the National Weather Service, recounts top-secret rainmaking operations during the Vietnam War, and examines the economic impact of disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Drawing on extensive research and countless interviews, she examines our own day and age, from our most personal decisions—Do I need an umbrella today?—to the awesome challenges we face with global climate change. Redniss produced each element of Thunder & Lightning: the text, the artwork, the covers, and every page in between. She created many of the images using the antiquated printmaking technique copper plate photogravure etching. She even designed the book’s typeface. The result is a book unlike any other: a spellbinding combination of storytelling, art, and science. Praise for Thunder & Lightning “[An] aesthetically charged and deeply researched account . . . a wild rainstorm of a book, pelting the reader with ideas and inspiration.”—Nature “A gorgeous and illuminating illustrated study of weather in all its tempestuous variety . . . Redniss’s combo of fact, folklore, and vibrant etched copperplate prints enthralls.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Eerily beautiful . . . Contains plenty of scientific explanation (including more than a few nods toward global warming), but also far-flung personal stories that illuminate the beauty, wonder and chaos inherent in the elements.”—The New York Times “Magical . . . Redniss has . . . shown us how human beings live with nature—fighting, coexisting, taming, predicting via leech barometer and radar and intuition.”—The New York Times Book Review “[A] twenty-first-century genius . . . The reader willing to put herself fully in Redniss’s hands will be rewarded with a delicious feeling of being enveloped by a phenomenon that eclipses the chiming trivialities of daily life.”—Elle “Redniss is one of the most creative science writers of our time—her combination of beautiful artwork, reporting, and poetic prose brings science to life in ways that words alone simply cannot.”—Rebecca Skloot “Redniss combines her own dual punch of expressive art and impressive erudition to give an entirely new take on all that happens above our heads.”—Adam Gopnik “A strange and wonderful thing, the work of a first-class mind that refuses to submit to any categories or precedent.”—Dave Eggers