lighting
Lightning For other uses, see Lightning (disambiguation) . "Return stroke" redirects here. For other uses, see Return stroke (disambiguation) . Not to be confused with Lighting . Strokes of cloud-to-ground lightning during a thunderstorm Play media High-speed, slow-motion lightning video captured at 6,200 frames per second Cloud-to-ground lightning in Maracaibo , Venezuela A lightning bolt at Petrified Forest National Park , USA Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions in the atmosphere or ground temporarily equalize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of as much as one gigajoule of energy . [1] [2] [3] This discharge may produce a wide range of electromagnetic radiation , from very hot plasma created by the rapid movement of electrons to brilliant flashes of visible light in the form of black-body radiation . Lightning causes thunder , a sound from the shock wave which deve