ATMS 120 FINAL EXAM WITH
COMPLETE SOLUTION
What is heat lightning? - ANSWER lightning in the distance but it appears like
it's not caused by a storm
Is heat lightning real? - ANSWER not real
Are cars safe from lightning? - ANSWER Yes
acts as a Faraday cage, will protect you from lightning if you are inside
Are airplanes safe from lightning? - ANSWER yes - act as Faraday cage
True or False: If you touch someone who has been struck by lightning, you
might get electrocuted - ANSWER False
True or False: Every lightning strike produces thunder - ANSWER True
If you see a flash of lightning and hear thunder 10 seconds later, how far is
the lightning from you? - ANSWER 2 miles (1 mile for 5 seconds)
True or False: If you are about to be struck by lightning, your hair might
stand on end - ANSWER True
For a negative polarity lightning strike, in which direction does the stepped
leader travel (upward or downward) - ANSWER downward
True or False: Lightning can sometimes occur on hot and humid summer
evenings when there are no thunderstorms. - ANSWER False
How many times per second do lightning strikes happen on earth - ANSWER
,100 strikes per second
How are lightning fatalities separated by gender? - ANSWER (2009-2019): 59
women, 213 men - less than a third of lightning fatalities are women
more lightning facts (myth or facts) - ANSWER
How are lightning fatalities separated by geography? - ANSWER lightning is
most common in florida because it is surrounded by ocean and the weather
tends to be more humid and hot (good conditions for thunderstorms and
lightning)
florida has twice as many fatalities than any other state
typical length of lightning - ANSWER 5km
typical width of lightning - ANSWER 1 in (2-3 cm)
how often does lightning strike the earth - ANSWER 100 strikes per second (9
million per day)
how hot is lightning - ANSWER 30,000 deg C
(5x hotter than sun's surface)
Lightning strike event sequence - ANSWER stepped leader, return stroke,
dart leader, second return stroke
Why is lightning from the anvil more dangerous than that from the base of a
storm? - ANSWER
What is the typical electric charge separation inside of and near a
thunderstorm? What causes this charge separation? - ANSWER In a typical
thunderstorm, positive charge builds at the top of the cloud because the
positively charged ice crystals are lighter than the negatively charged ones,
,so the particles containing positive charge tend to float to the top of the
cloud.
positive charge accumulates on tall objects bc of the attraction to the
negatively charged cloud base
graupel - ANSWER hail - becomes negatively charged, heavy, falls to the
bottom of the cloud
4 types of lightning - ANSWER 80%: intra-cloud, cloud to cloud, cloud to air
20%: cloud to ground
in order for a cloud to produce lightning, it must contain... - ANSWER ice
sheet lightning - ANSWER -not heat lightning
- can see from a long distance, esp at night
- light can be scattered by clouds and rain, resulting in this lightning
- entire sky appears to light up
- may not hear thunder bc it is far away
negative-polarity lightning strike stepped leader - ANSWER #1
- electrons come down from cloud base searching for path of least resistance
to a positive charge
- fork like pattern
- streamer of positive charge moves up to meet it
- travels at 100,000+ mph
- can barely see any of this
, negative-polarity lightning strike return stroke - ANSWER #2
- when streamer of positive charge moves up to meet the stepped leader
- electrons from cloud base suddenly rush down the open path
- current travels back up producing the bright flash
- travels at 10,000,000+ mph
- heats air to 30,000C
- opens an ionized path
negative-polarity lightning strike dart leader - ANSWER #3
- any remaining electrons from cloud base can then rush back down the same
path (the ionized path opened by the return stroke)
negative-polarity lightning strike second return stroke - ANSWER #4
- when remaining electrons travel down (dart leader) and meets the positive
charge
- second bright flash
COMPLETE SOLUTION
What is heat lightning? - ANSWER lightning in the distance but it appears like
it's not caused by a storm
Is heat lightning real? - ANSWER not real
Are cars safe from lightning? - ANSWER Yes
acts as a Faraday cage, will protect you from lightning if you are inside
Are airplanes safe from lightning? - ANSWER yes - act as Faraday cage
True or False: If you touch someone who has been struck by lightning, you
might get electrocuted - ANSWER False
True or False: Every lightning strike produces thunder - ANSWER True
If you see a flash of lightning and hear thunder 10 seconds later, how far is
the lightning from you? - ANSWER 2 miles (1 mile for 5 seconds)
True or False: If you are about to be struck by lightning, your hair might
stand on end - ANSWER True
For a negative polarity lightning strike, in which direction does the stepped
leader travel (upward or downward) - ANSWER downward
True or False: Lightning can sometimes occur on hot and humid summer
evenings when there are no thunderstorms. - ANSWER False
How many times per second do lightning strikes happen on earth - ANSWER
,100 strikes per second
How are lightning fatalities separated by gender? - ANSWER (2009-2019): 59
women, 213 men - less than a third of lightning fatalities are women
more lightning facts (myth or facts) - ANSWER
How are lightning fatalities separated by geography? - ANSWER lightning is
most common in florida because it is surrounded by ocean and the weather
tends to be more humid and hot (good conditions for thunderstorms and
lightning)
florida has twice as many fatalities than any other state
typical length of lightning - ANSWER 5km
typical width of lightning - ANSWER 1 in (2-3 cm)
how often does lightning strike the earth - ANSWER 100 strikes per second (9
million per day)
how hot is lightning - ANSWER 30,000 deg C
(5x hotter than sun's surface)
Lightning strike event sequence - ANSWER stepped leader, return stroke,
dart leader, second return stroke
Why is lightning from the anvil more dangerous than that from the base of a
storm? - ANSWER
What is the typical electric charge separation inside of and near a
thunderstorm? What causes this charge separation? - ANSWER In a typical
thunderstorm, positive charge builds at the top of the cloud because the
positively charged ice crystals are lighter than the negatively charged ones,
,so the particles containing positive charge tend to float to the top of the
cloud.
positive charge accumulates on tall objects bc of the attraction to the
negatively charged cloud base
graupel - ANSWER hail - becomes negatively charged, heavy, falls to the
bottom of the cloud
4 types of lightning - ANSWER 80%: intra-cloud, cloud to cloud, cloud to air
20%: cloud to ground
in order for a cloud to produce lightning, it must contain... - ANSWER ice
sheet lightning - ANSWER -not heat lightning
- can see from a long distance, esp at night
- light can be scattered by clouds and rain, resulting in this lightning
- entire sky appears to light up
- may not hear thunder bc it is far away
negative-polarity lightning strike stepped leader - ANSWER #1
- electrons come down from cloud base searching for path of least resistance
to a positive charge
- fork like pattern
- streamer of positive charge moves up to meet it
- travels at 100,000+ mph
- can barely see any of this
, negative-polarity lightning strike return stroke - ANSWER #2
- when streamer of positive charge moves up to meet the stepped leader
- electrons from cloud base suddenly rush down the open path
- current travels back up producing the bright flash
- travels at 10,000,000+ mph
- heats air to 30,000C
- opens an ionized path
negative-polarity lightning strike dart leader - ANSWER #3
- any remaining electrons from cloud base can then rush back down the same
path (the ionized path opened by the return stroke)
negative-polarity lightning strike second return stroke - ANSWER #4
- when remaining electrons travel down (dart leader) and meets the positive
charge
- second bright flash
