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Article: NASA researchers explore lightning's 'NOx-ious' impact on pollution, climate.
- Article from:
- NewsRx Health & Science
- Article date:
- November 22, 2009
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Every year, scientists learn something new about the inner workings of lightning.
With satellites, they have discovered that more than 1.2 billion lightning flashes occur around the world every year. (Rwanda has the most flashes per square kilometer, while flashes are rare in polar regions.) Laboratory and field experiments have revealed that the core of some lightning bolts reaches 30,000 Kelvin (53,540 *F), a temperature hot enough to instantly melt sand and break oxygen and nitrogen molecules into individual atoms.
And then there is this: each of those billion lightning flashes produces a puff of nitrogen oxide gas (NOx) that reacts with sunlight and ...