Lightning and Electricity

Essay # 3694

Physics > Electricity and Magnetism
Research Designs

This paper examines the scientific discoveries dealing with electricity.

1,700 words () | 9 sources | 2000 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper presents in chronological order the study of lightning and how as new ideas would come about and be proven, other inventors would use that idea and take it into a new direction.

From the Paper:

"Lightning is a form of static electricity. When it is raining, raindrops can acquire extra electrons. These negatively charged raindrops seek out the positively charged ground. When these two charges connect, current flows through randomly placed areas of charged particles. This is what lightning is, and what gives it the jagged pattern (see diagram). Lightning has been on Earth longer than people have. Still we don't know everything about it. We do know that lightning can take a variety of forms. The most common are forked, streak, ribbon, or bead lightning. All of these types are essentially the same with variations on atmospheric conditions. There is one type called ball lightning, but very little is known about this type. It is also known that lightning will travel from cloud to cloud, cloud to ground, and ground to cloud. Early studies done to find that lightning is electricity paved the way for several other important findings about electricity and how it behaves."