L I G H T N I N G
The following
is only theory, not fact!
This theory answers troubling questions about where lightning originates
and it is a good model that seems to fit the known parameters of lightning.
It predicts positive and negative lightning strokes and fits the envelope of knowledge
that we posses about lightning like a tailor made suit.
"I think that we don't really understand how it, (lightning), gets started. We don't know how you get a big enough electric field. How do you get it big enough to cause the air to break down?"
Some scientists suggest that lightning is the result of cosmic particles from space bombarding the earth's atmosphere causing charges to separate. Others theorize that lightning is the result of charges that are separated by water being ripped from ice pellets or that dust particles bumping into each other causes charges to separate and thus creates a potential for lightning. If the cosmic particle theory were true why don't intense solar flares cause corresponding fluctuations in thunderstorm intensities. If the ice theory were true, why do storms that contain no ice, (which is detectable by radar) still produce lightning. By the same token if the dust particle theory were true then large dust storms or volcanic dust that gets caught up in a thunderstorm should show a marked increase in the storms intensity. Why is there a direct correlation, (as shown by NASA studies), between the amount of rain in a storm and the amount of lightning? Why should the volume of rain in a storm have anything to do with how much lightning is produced?
~~~~~~~~~ Because Lightning is a product of condensation! ~~~~~~~~~~
It is part of the water cycle we all learned about in school.
Water molecules in the liquid state share electrons covalently. This enables liquid water molecules to exist at a lower energy state and is the factor that makes water behave as a liquid. How ever when energy in the form of heat is available the water molecules use this heat energy to lock up a full compliment of electrons in the valence band or a perfect dot diagram of eight electrons. The molecule is now free to move about independently and is now a gas and refuses to share any of its electrons with its neighbors. It jumps into the atmosphere and leaves behind fewer electrons to be shared by the rest of the liquid water molecules in the ocean.
As the gas H2O molecules loose their heat energy they also lose the ability to maintain a full compliment of electrons and the gas molecules are forced to condense with each other, become liquid, and once again share electrons. In the process they give up the surplus heat and electrons they can no longer afford to maintain. If condensation is fast enough and in sufficient amounts then a lightning storm ensues.
So you see, lightning is merely a part of the water cycle. From Ocean to sky to earth again. Isn't it just like nature to recycle?
What evidence is there to support this theory?
1. I have witnessed rapidly condensing freon producing sparks of static electricity.
2. I have monitored a static meter at a Minute Man Missile site and observed charges build as small clouds formed in a blue sky on a calm day. How do charges separate in very small clouds on a calm day? It can't be by the currently accepted and widely taught, Large Particle / Small Particle / Updraft theory! There can be only one answer. *Electro release condensation!
3. Why do ground fogs carry a charge? What is the mechanism that separates the charge associated with fog? It can only be, *Electro-release condensation!
4. Ninety percent of cloud to ground strikes are negative cloud to positive ground. Just as it should be if condensing water frees electrons.
5. When Dr. David Rust and his team sent a probe into the anvil of a thunder head they had a big surprise. Current theory says that the upper levels of a thunder cell are positive. Instead of recording only high positive charges as they had supposed the probe recorded unexpectedly, a large area of high negative charge in the anvil. JUST WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT in an area of a cloud that is both condensing and dissipating, (by evaporation).
6. NASA recently established that there is a direct ratio between the volume of rain produced in a storm and the amount of lightning it produces.
7. In an article by Dr. Hugh J. Christian & Melanie A. McCook, http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/lightning/primertext.html (positive strikes), negative earth to positive cloud, lightning strikes are discussed. They are mentioned as,
"an
appreciable minority... of the total lightning strikes.... These
positive flashes often occur during the dissipating phase of a
thunderstorms life".
This is exactly what my
postulate predicts. Dissipating storms are usually evaporating
and evaporation produces the positive charges that result in a
positive lightning strike.
8. While observing a large thunder storm as it passed over the top of the Wasatch mountain range and continued bombarding the Morgan Valley on the other side of the mountains we were treated to a spectacular sight. As My brothers and I watched the lightning flash downward and then behind the mountains. We saw fingers of lightening drain towards the part of the cloud that had just flashed to the ground. First the fingers began immediately around the flash point and then more and more and more each time migrating further and further from the flash point, like a domino effect, but still draining to the flash point. It continued after each strike until the last fingers of lightning were nearly over us and still draining all the way back to the original flashes. The fingers didn't stop draining until they had drained what seemed to be the entire thunder head. Since then I have seen the same sequence of draining fingers of lightning on video. This appears to indicate that a lot more of the cloud is negative than positive. It appears that much of the inter cloud lightning is from negative to less negative regions.
9. Research by two separate teams, Studwell and Orville (1995) and Holle and Watson, (1996) Discovered a predominance of positive flashes, (delivering net positive charge to ground), in areas of freezing rain. Again this is exactly what my theory predicts. As water freezes it becomes negatively charged. Since freezing rain becomes frozen on contact with the ground, (respectively) it imparts a negative charge to the ground on freezing. Any discharge would be negative ground to positive cloud which constitutes a positive flash! The net result of the discharge is a positive charge left on the ground and a negative charge delivered to the cloud!
10. Laboratory experiments directed by E J Workman at the New Mexico Institute of mining and technology Back up the freezing rain theory by showing that when dilute solutions of water are frozen a large electric potential develops between the water and the ice. The experiments show that the ice gains a negative charge while the water retains a positive charge. Again exactly what the theory of Electron Transfer Via Matter State Change predicts
11. Here is a copy of a letter I received. Thanks to Mr. Paul Brunson for giving me permission to publish it here.
Lynn,
We have a static
shock problem at my plant on top of a structure. If you touch the
hand rail, any metal up there or even the guy next to you, you
get a pretty good shock. There is a small pin hole steam leak
from a high pressure steam line blowing onto the structure and
you, if you walk through it. My question is whether the steam
condensing on the metal hand rails and our bodies could be
releasing electrons like your lightning sources paper suggest?
Then when we touch each other or the hand rails we get a static
shock to equalize the charge.
Any input would be appreciated,
Paul Brunson
Olin Corporation
Charleston, TN
12. Pictured below is a machine that was built one hundred and fifty years ago by Sir William George Armstrong. It is a steam boiler standing on glass legs to insulate it from the ground. The steam was exhausted through small jets and allowed to condense on a metal pate which was electrically isolated from the boiler. Amazingly the static build up on the metal plate was enough to jump a spark up to two feet. OUCH! The theory then being that the static was due to friction. (I'll add more as I get additional information). Thanks to Michael Foster for sending this information.
13. Maintenance crews and rescue workers who have a lot of experience around helicopters are painfully aware of the large static shock they can receive when a chopper is operating above moisture. The area of the prop wash is so extensive that large amounts of moisture are evaporated rapidly creating a highly charged area around the helicopter.
14. The following is a letter recieved from Andrew Sweeney. Thanks Andrew for giving me permision to publish it here.
Lynn, I just want to drop you a line on a really well thought out theory.
I did a degree in Chemistry and Physics and can understand all the stuff in here
and at last someone has come up with a plausable answer to this question.
Well done and I am going to ask a few people around the traps if they can better
the theory or come up with some pointers.
Andrew Sweeney
Brisbane Queensland Australia
15.The following I recieved from Eric A. Eikenberry. Thanks Eric for letting me publish your letter.
Lynn,
Is this your own theory? Have you published it? This is the single, most
correct, incredibly awesome theory of lightning that I have ever read
(and I read constantly!)! I've been through "All about lightning" by
Martin Uman, which is really just a compilation of the theories of
others into one book about lightning. Your theory is vastly superior to
his! In fact, with your permission, I'm going to place a direct link
from my links page to yours.
My site is The "Mills
Law of Electron Transfer Via Matter State Changes," says That when matter
changes states, (solid to liquid, liquid
to solid, liquid to gas or
gas to liquid),
there will be a corresponding transfer of electrons. So the mills Law
predicts that in any cloud formations the areas of the clouds
that are condensing will have a negative charge or a surplus of
electrons. In the parts of the clouds that are dissipating due to
evaporation there will be a loss of free electrons or a positive
charge. Also, freezing portions of the cloud will become more
negative and thawing portions will become more positive. That the
volume and rapidity of condensation determines how much lightning
is produced. The Mills Law if true has far
reaching implications. One example. If the Earth is cooling and
rock is changing states from liquid to solid you would expect the
Earth to carry a net negative charge. On the other hand if the
Earth is heating up then the Mills law says you will find the
Earth to carry a net positive charge because the rocks are going
from solid state to liquid. This law doesn't just affect
lightning storms but also involves anything that changes states
from solid to liquid, from liquid to gas or visa versa. I would
even go so far as to propose that scraping our feet across a new
carpet, (which produces heat in the thousands of degrees),
generates the static charge by vaporizing on a micro scale carpet
fibers and then instantly condensing them creating a charge that
accumulates on our bodies. Summary In summation then you can
expect to see many more lightning storms in parts of the country
where there is the potential for large amounts of moisture to be
carried to great heights and cooled rapidly, such as the plains
of the U.S. and the prairie provinces of Canada. Especially in
the Southern U.S. where hot and cool airs collide. This produces
rapid condensation and rapid build up of charges. In the
northwestern U.S and western Canada there is plenty of moisture.
It is relatively cool though and seldom collides with hot moist
air. It condenses slowly in most cases, giving charges from
condensation time to bleed off. The result is drizzle with few
thunderstorms. This theory seems to fit the known facts of
thunderstorms and in fact predicts them. It is a good model and
seems to hold true to the conditions that we observe relating to
lightning. It is the only theory that fits the signature and
characteristics of lightning from it's birth in the oceans and
quiet ascension into the heavens to it's fiery and noisy return
to earth again. Testing
the Premise A test of this theory
might be to construct a large tank, insulate it from the ground
and then create a recirculating air flow, with combs to
neutralize, through which dried air or moist air to the point of
saturation can be recirculated. With the tank recirculating dried
air a high pressure stream of water would be directed at a ball
or other object in the center of the tank that would atomize the
water so that it would evaporate almost instantly. The tank
should rapidly build a static charge due to evaporation. Then
repeat the process with the recirculating air in the tank being
moist to the point of saturation so no evaporation can take
place. If a charge builds in the dry air tank only,
then my theory is true. If a charge builds in both
tanks then my theory is not true and the
charges come from another source. * "Electro-release
condensation" is the release of an electron from the outer
valance at the point of condensation and conversely
"electro-nabbed evaporation" is the capture of an
electron during evaporation.
Coined phrases Copyright 1998
by Lynn Mills I am honord to display this award from Study Web and also The Best of Pod from Tripods Weather Pod
http://www.redrivernet.com/lightningbolts
and as you might
guess is dedicated to my own lightning photographs. There's about 40 or
so lightning photos on there, and some other general-type photos that
I've taken as I learned to take pictures. I'm a member of the Panhandle
Storm Chase Assn. based out of Lubbock, TX, although I've only chased
tornadoes once I look forward to chasing again soon.
Since I live in the "desert southwest" I've seen storms time and again
do exactly what you've suggested; rapidly build phenomenal energies and
release them in a short amount of time.
|
Lightning Web Ring:A collection of informative and interesting sites relating to lightning. Science Galaxy for Kids: Super site for kids and adults! Note:
this site is no longer there. If anyone knows where it is please
send me the URL. I
value your imput whether you endorse this theory or not. Any
suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated. If you have
experienced or know of any strange, unusual, or interesting
phenomena that might relate to this lightning paper please
contact me. I would like to hear from you. You may reach me at
the email address below. Thank you for visiting my site. Lynn
Mills
Intellicast: Excellent, weather, satellite, radar
& animation's site
Intellicast: Excellent, weather, satellite, radar
& animation's site
YAHOO Weather:
Good forecasts, satellite, radar ect.
Space Science & Engineering Center U of Wis.: Global mosaic satellite, Global
satellite movies
SCIENCE HOBBYIST: Not only very interesting but also
quite educational
Please note
At the bottom of this page there are links to other interesting sites that deal with all aspects of lightning. Take the time to check them out also.
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Web master is Lynn Mills [email protected]
Page first placed
May 11, 1998
Last modified page placed on geocities March 23, 1999
November 11, 1998 - November 15, 1998 - December 10, 1998
12 January 1999 - 1 March 1999 - 6 March, 1999 - 14 March, 1999
