Max Freier’s Comps Presentation
Wednesday, February 24th 2016
3:10 pm in Olin 141
Lightning and the Global Circuit
There exists strong evidence that the familiar phenomenon of lightning is a component of an atmospheric circuit on the global scale. A constant, nearly uniform worldwide current brings positive charge downward from the atmosphere. Lightning storms act to recharge this circuit by depositing positive charge back into the atmosphere in this model. My talk will discuss the physics of all the processes relevant to this relationship with a focus on lightning storms themselves. Topics include fair weather current, charge separation, storm clouds, and the electrodynamics of individual lightning strokes. There are significant gaps in the scientific understanding of some components of lightning, so empirical evidence and proposed solutions will be presented.