Lightning has a lot of energy; a single bolt can power 150 million light bulbs. The idea of harnessing so much energy and storing it is immensely appealing. Benjamin Franklin used a kite and a key to prove that lightning is caused by electricity, although he couldn’t store the electricity.
A practical means of storing lightning energy is feasible, it simply requires the will to do it. It requires a network of equal resistance legs, a network of voltage dividers, to lower the voltage to the point that it can charge capacitors without blowing through the dielectric. How do I know if my outlet is AC or DC?
Can lightning be harnessed to store electricity?
The idea of harnessing so much energy and storing it is immensely appealing. Benjamin Franklin used a kite and a key to prove that lightning is caused by electricity, although he couldn’t store the electricity. There are a number of problems with trying to harness the tremendous energy of lightning bolts.
This begs the query “Can We harvest the energy of lightning?”
Lightning packs a huge amount of power – 5 billion joules of energy in a single bolt to be exact. Check out these amazing lightning pictures! A single bolt of lightning contains 5 billion joules of energy, enough to power a household for a month. The energy of a thunderstorm equals that of an atom bomb.
This of course begs the inquiry “Can we use lightning for energy?”
There are alot of reasons for this, but it boils down the the fact that the Voltage of a lightning bolt varies a lot. So what we can do is use the lightning for some raw energy which we then use to turn turbines, sort of like Coal or Nuclear at a very high level.
There are a number of problems with trying to harness the tremendous energy of lightning bolts. The first is that lightning is highly unpredictable. There is no way to know exactly where and when lightning will strike, so it would be difficult to find a location to turn into a facility for processing lightning for energy.
Is it possible to generate electricity from lightning?
Since a high amount of energy is passed through the air in an infinitesimally small amount of time (a few microseconds), the electrical power associated with lightning is also very high. Despite being a carrier of a massive amount of energy, extracting energy from a thunderbolt to power our homes isn’t technically feasible.
Next, when lighting does strike, it releases so much energy that it is almost impossible to build a device that can capture and store any of the energy. And other structures.
What is the potential energy of lightning?
In the forms of electricity, light, heat and thunder, this energy is all released by the flash in a matter of milli- or even microseconds. From here let’s consider the practical potential of lightning is as a power source.
What is lightning and how does it work?
Lightning, theoretically, is a tremendous source of energy. However, it’s best that you make use of it only when you’re in a very, very desperate situation, such as when you’re stuck in the wrong time and are fortunate enough to have a genius like Doc Brown standing beside you!
What are the advantages and disadvantages of lightning?
It is totally renewable, which is a definite advantage, and it is readily available in some regions of the world. Lightning has a lot of energy; a single bolt can power 150 million light bulbs. The idea of harnessing so much energy and storing it is immensely appealing.