The rapid heating and cooling of the gases within a lightning bolt produces nitric oxide (NO), which combines with oxygen to create nitrogen dioxide (NO2), especially when it’s moving downwind. Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide are referred to together as nitrogen oxides (NOx), a mixture of gases.
Anyway, yes lightning CAN produce oxygen from water, but only in minute quantities. The vast majority of oxygen is “produced” by plants from CO2 which is then converted by into O2 and C by animals who breathe it.
For billions of years Earth had lightning but no oxygen in the atmosphere. (Or a few parts per billion.) It was mostly CO2. There is lightning in outer space, in molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks. All you need is particles rubbing against each other: cosmic dust, gas, whatever is available.
Is there Lightning in outer space?
Get trained to become a data scientist and pay $0 until you get hired. For billions of years Earth had lightning but no oxygen in the atmosphere. (Or a few parts per billion.) It was mostly CO2. There is lightning in outer space, in molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks.
How does Lightning produce nitrogen oxides?
Lightning breaks apart nitrogen molecules. This allows the molecules to combine with oxygen and, together, they form nitrogen oxides.
One question we ran across in our research was “How does Lightning produce nitrogen dioxide?”.
Each bolt of lightning carries electrical energy that is powerful enough to break the strong bonds of the nitrogen molecule in the atmosphere. Once split, the nitrogen atoms quickly bond to oxygen in the atmosphere, forming nitrogen dioxide.
It is all the result of chemistry. The rapid heating and cooling of the gases within a lightning bolt produces nitric oxide (NO), which combines with oxygen to create nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), especially when it’s moving downwind. Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide are referred to together as nitrogen oxides (NO x ), a mixture of gases.
How much nitrogen is fixed by lightning?
The process of usually unreactive nitrogen being turned into nitrates that plants can use is called ‘nitrogen fixing’. Lightning accounts for up to 3-10 teragrams of nitrogen fixed per year (compared to 100-300 teragrams fixed by bacteria).
Does my home need a lightning rod?
Not every home needs lightning rod protection. Isolated houses and houses in elevated, exposed areas run a greater risk of lightning strikes, but tall structures and tall terrain features nearby could give a home good passive protection. Sorry, the video player failed to load.
Should I get a lightning rod?
, and low cost. The pros of lightning rods are that they can be a viable and low-cost option for those households and buildings insured by companies. The lightning rods work basically as one-time investments because they require no further maintenance once they’ve been installed., and more items.
There is a lot of disagreement in the lightning protection industry. The system that seems to have the endorsement of most authoritative organizations is to the old standby grounded rod system, which even has codes written around it.