Ken,
Small point of order. The air doesn't "burn" in a chemical sense. Rather, we
see an emission from electrons ionized by the lightning as they recombine
with an atom..
The electrical short you describe travels a highly conductive path defined
by ionization of the air molecules. Once this path is established, a
humongous current flows down it and other paths nearby. That current reeks
havoc with the electrons in the surrounding air, stripping some of them from
the atoms.
A spark is just the energy released at visible wavelengths as these
electrons find their way home. The actual emission is quite broad band, as
anyone with a radio on at the time will attest, and yes, in a small number
of cases, ions combine in something other than their original configuration,
effectively "burning;" you can sometimes smell the ozone.
But the flash we see is more akin to fluorescence than oxidation.
And photographing it sounds like fun, either way!
Frank
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 23:57:09 -0500
> From: Ken Norton <image66@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [OM] Lightining
>
<snip>
> without turning features off (autofocus). The "spark"
> itself, which is
> essentially an electrical short travels from cloud to cloud
> or cloud to
> ground or ground to cloud makes the entire connection in about a
> millisecond, but it essentially burns the atmosphere that it
> is travelling
> through. This burning causes in incandescent glow which
> actually makes the
> spark more visible and longer lasting.
>
> Now, what other myths can I skewer?
>
> Ken (city slicker Iowa boy) Norton
>
> ------------------------------
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