Talk:Lightning

Please add new comments at the bottom of this page

Harvesting lightning energy

This section first states that a single bolt of lightning carries a large amount of energy, and then later mentions that it carries a very small amount of energy. Could it be that the first statement is referring to a large amount of power rather than energy?

This section cites two sources stating that lightning carries two different amounts of energy:

1. "a single bolt of lightning carries a relatively large amount of energy (approximately 5 billion joules[121])."

2. "According to Northeastern University physicists Stephen Reucroft and John Swain, a lightning bolt carries a few million joules of energy."

It seems that both statements cannot be correct unless, of course, those two sources discuss different concepts. Can this be expanded upon? 188.116.3.163 (talk) 09:55, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

"positive lightning"

In the section Cloud to ground lightning, there is a likk to the article "Positive Lightning" which does not exist, and redirects back to this page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.77.133.223 (talk) 23:30, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

"Positive Lightning", "Cloud-to-Ground Lightning" and "Cloud-to-Cloud" Lightning

The description of "Ground-to-Cloud Lightning" applies to the least common (one tenth the incidence of the most common) of the two forms of Cloud-Ground Lightning; it might be helpful to state this in the "Ground-to-Cloud Lightning" section.

In general, descriptions of directionality and charge polarity in the sections entitled "Cloud-to-Ground Lightning", "Ground-to-Cloud Lightning" and "Cloud-to-Cloud Lightning" are consistent with the literature, but citations and/or clarifications may be helpful in these sections. For example: a broad and detailed view, rigorous nomenclature, and quantitative distinctions regarding (a) types of lightning, (b) directionality and (c) charge polarity, which can resolve existing "citations needed" flags and similar items that have not been flagged, can be found in "Lightning: Physics and Effects" (Rakov and Uman, 2003, Cambridge Press). For example, Section 1.2 of "Lightning: Physics and Effects" (Rakov and Uman, 2003) alleviates some abiguity by adhering to a generally accepted nomenclature describing the four types of cloud-ground lightning as: downward negative, upward negative, downward positive and upward positive. Section 1.2 of "Lightning: Physics and Effects" (Rakov and Uman, 2003) also provides minimized ambiguity by adhering to a generally accepted nomenclature describing cloud-cloud discharges. Finally, Section 1.2 of "Lightning: Physics and Effects" references (potentially helpful) detailed descriptions of all of the above-mentioned types of lightning, within "Lightning: Physics and Effects" and elsewhere. Jplesa (talk) 09:48, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

File:Lightning bolt slow motion.gif Nominated for speedy Deletion

An image used in this article, File:Lightning bolt slow motion.gif, has been nominated for speedy deletion for the following reason: All Wikipedia files with unknown copyright status What should I do? Don't panic; you should have time to contest the deletion (although please review deletion guidelines before doing so). The best way to contest this form of deletion is by posting on the image talk page. If the image is non-free then you may need to provide a fair use rationale If the image isn't freely licensed and there is no fair use rationale, then it cannot be uploaded or used. If the image has already been deleted you may want to try Deletion Review To take part in any discussion, or to review a more detailed deletion rationale please visit the relevant image page (File:Lightning bolt slow motion.gif) This is Bot placed notification, another user has nominated/tagged the image --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 21:14, 12 February 2012 (UTC)