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A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father' ; this association is also found in later Hellenic representations of Zeus and Vedic descriptions of the vajra wielded by the god Indra .
Sheet lightning is cloud-to-cloud lightning that exhibits a diffuse brightening of the surface of a cloud, caused by the actual discharge path being hidden or too far away. The lightning itself cannot be seen by the spectator, so it appears as only a flash, or a sheet of light. The lightning may be too far away to discern individual flashes.
Atmospheric electricity involves both thunderstorms, which create lightning bolts to rapidly discharge huge amounts of atmospheric charge stored in storm clouds, and the continual electrification of the air due to ionization from cosmic rays and natural radioactivity, which ensure that the atmosphere is never quite neutral. [6]
The process of going from charge as ions (positive hydrogen ion and negative hydroxide ion) associated with liquid water or solid water to charge as electrons associated with lightning must involve some form of electro-chemistry, that is, the oxidation and/or the reduction of chemical species. [45]
The presence of lightning in religion is an historically existing and currently existing cultural aspect where-by the phenomenon of lightning has been or is viewed as part of a deity or a deity in and of itself, or as a component of a religious practice.
Electric charge is a conserved property: the net charge of an isolated system, the quantity of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge, cannot change. Electric charge is carried by subatomic particles. In ordinary matter, negative charge is carried by electrons, and positive charge is carried by the protons in the nuclei of atoms ...
Thunderstorms, evidenced by flashes of lightning, on Jupiter have been detected and are associated with clouds where water may exist as both a liquid and ice, suggesting a mechanism similar to that on Earth. (Water is a polar molecule that can carry a charge, so it is capable of creating the charge separation needed to produce lightning). [108]
Although the internal charge within the specimen is negative, the discharge is initiated from the positively charged exterior surfaces of the specimen, so that the resulting discharge creates a positive Lichtenberg figure. These objects are sometimes called electron trees, beam trees, or lightning trees.