Interesting facts about Lightning

August 21, 2009 | In: Nature Facts

Lightning bolts travel at speeds of up to 60,000 miles per second.

A single lightning bolt is about 50,000°F or 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun

About 71.4286% of all people struck by lightning still survive.

The maximum distance you can hear thunder is as short as two (2) miles and seldom exceeds twelve (12) miles.

The energy contained in a single lightning stroke can power a 100 Watt light bulb for 90 days.

Talking on the telephone is the leading cause of lightning injuries inside the home.

Lightning has hit the Empire State Building as often as twelve times in twenty minutes and as frequently as five hundred times a year.

When lightning strikes the ground, it often melts a zigzag path right into the soil!

When the melted earth cools down, it solidifies into a snaky, twisty rock called a fulgurite. Some fulgurites have branches, just like the lightning that formed them.

Most fulgurites are uncovered by people digging in sand, where the fragile structures can be uncovered without breaking them into tiny pieces. The longest fulgurites are over twenty feet long, but most specimens are only a few inches long.