Post created by Sam
Everyone is acquainted with the heavy beats of rain, the shadowy skies that brighten for a moment followed by a mighty thoom and crack. We have much to thank lightning for as it helped Benjamin Franklin run his experiments, birthing electricity which has allowed us to light up our own night skies. These ground-breaking discoveries that have forever changed our world, however, serve a much deeper, greater purpose – a single question. What will it take to shoot lightning out of my hands? In all seriousness, force lightning has always been a childhood dream of mine. The idea of opening doors with the power of my mind, flinging things into my hand from across the room out of shear willpower, and shooting projectile lightning has haunted my dreams of late with Star Wars on the mind. With what we have been learning in Physics, I’m excited to tell you that “Unlimited Power!” isn’t as far off as one might think.
What is lightning? Lightning and thunder accompany rain showers in Thunderstorms, a common weather phenomenon. Thunderstorms manifest with the combination of warm air near the surface of the Earth rising – updrafts – and cold air in the upper atmosphere falling – downdrafts. Moisture is captured with the updraft and create clouds while the rains of thunderstorms are produced by the downdrafts. These storms help regulate two things: the temperature and electrical imbalances between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere (National Geographic).
This is where what we talked about in lecture really comes in handy. What actually causes lightning and thunder is the polarization of the clouds and ground. Due to the collision of ice, water droplets, and snow inside the clouds, a negative charge is created in the lower regions of the storm (although the exact process is still debated). The ground corresponds by tending toward a positive charge, forming an imbalance. This imbalance is thus corrected with a discharge of energy called lightning; this flash of plasma can reach temperatures well over the surface of the sun, travel at around 200,000 miles per hour, and carry up to one billion volts (National Geographic).
What people don’t often think about is that this same process of neutralization is happening constantly in our everyday lives. Static electricity is a perfect example. Whenever you rub your feet on the carpet, you are creating an electrical imbalance between yourself and the floor through friction. When this imbalance is great enough between you and something oppositely charged, equalization will occur – like touching a metal doorknob and getting shocked (Because Science).
Based on the chemistry of an object, a current can pass through more or less easily. The resistivity of an object inversely proportional to the concentration of free electrons. Metals are usually good conductors (meaning they carry a current) because they have a low resistivity or many free electrons. Insulators, on the other hand, tightly hold their electrons, and, therefore, don’t carry a charge well. The air is a fantastic insulator. However, every insulating material has what is called a Breakdown Voltage. This describes an energy transfer that is so large that the material literally breaks down and becomes a conductor. You can see this on a small scale with the example above. If the potential difference of the imbalance between you and another object is great enough, a discharge of electricity will ionize the particles of the air creating plasma or lightning. With a breakdown voltage for air being 3,000 volts/mm, an average shock could be 15-30 thousand volts (Because Science). In larger scenarios such as in thunderstorms, the potential difference between the ground and the cloud is so high that an electric discharge can ionize the air for over a hundred feet. The electrons are actually accelerated enough via an electric field to rip other electrons from atoms which, in turn, ionize other particles and break free their electrons, creating a snowball effect. This is called an electron avalanche.
In conclusion, “Unlimited Power!” is not too nonsensical. To use force lighting is to create a large, negatively charged imbalance on your person, and then, influencing the flow of electrons at a target which/who is more positively charged, equalize with your opponent – like a Van De Graaf Generator. The potential imbalance would have to increase based on the distance from the target. In other words, if you were roughly a meter away under normal pressure and temperature, you would have to generate 3,000,000 Volts without killing yourself. But at that point, you’re just playing with fire – plasma.
Picture Taken from: BallMemes, by Sizzle... Google Images
Bibliography:
Because Science, How Does Force Lighting Work? (Star Wars Science). Youtube, December 19, 2019.
National Geographic.Thunderstorms 101 | National Geographic. Youtube, April 12, 2019.
National Geographic, Lightning. Natural Disasters.
Zavisa, John. How Lightning Works. HowStuffWorks.
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