Five Facts About Lightning

Lightning is simply the collision of electrical charges in the clouds. Clouds are made up of tiny droplets of water and ice that have either positive or negative charges; when these charges collide with each other, it produces a highly-charged effect.

There are many of these effects that happen only in the cloud, but when a spark of electrical charge escapes from a cloud to the ground or to another cloud, it produces a much more charged electrical charge which is what we see as lightning. Here are some facts that you should know about:

1. Lightning causes thunder: These electrical charges we see as lightning are very hot, hotter even than the surface of the sun. So when they heat up the air around them, the air expands so fast it causes the sound of thunder. The reason we see the lightning before we hear the thunder sound is because light travels faster than sound.

2. Lightning creates fulgurite: When lightning hits sand, it creates a glass-like object called fulgurite that follows the wave of the electricity as it hits the sand.

3. Helicopters can create lightning: Because helicopters can acquire negative charges while they are in the clouds, if they collide with a positive charge, they can set off a lightning strike.

4. The place with the highest occurrence of lightnings: With up to 28 lightning strikes per minute and about 160 nights per year with thunderstorms, Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela has the most occurrences of lightning strikes.

5. Not so big: As hot and powerful as lightning can be, it is only about the size of a regular human finger in width.

The Bible tells us in Matthew 24:27 AMPC that: “For just as the lightning flashes from the east and shines and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” The Lord’s return would be as obvious to everyone as lightning in the sky.

In this year of preparation, let the coming of the Lord be paramount on your mind; remain prepared and prepare others as well.