Every second of every day, all over the world, there are more than 100 lightning bolts. That's about ten bolts one day Lightning amazes it can us. have good reason. to be afraid of lightning. Every year, about 100 people in the United lt States and Canada die from lightning, and another 300 are strange that of all the people who die from lightning, 84 percent are men. Lightning is the main cause of forest fires; it starts more than 9,000 fires each year
Lightning is electricity inside a cloud. Scientists do not know exactly what makes this electricity. But they know that the electricity inside a cloud can be as much as 100 million volts. From this extremely strong electricity, a lightning bolt, like a streak of bright light, comes down from the sky. Its temperature can reach 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit within a few millionths of a second. That's almost five times the temperature on the sun's surface. The lightning bolt is very quick. It can move at a speed of 87,000 miles per second. A rocket traveling at this speed would reach the moon in 2.5 seconds. With the lightning bolt, we usually hear thunder, which is the sound of hot air exploding. Lightning and thunder happen at exactly the same time, but we see lightning first because light travels a million times faster than sound.
Lightning often strikes tall buildings. However, many buildings have lightning rods to protect them from lightning. When lightning strikes, the electricity goes safely down the metal rod the ground Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman, invented the lightning rod in 1760. That is why buildings like the Empire State Building in New York City are safe. Lightning may hit this building as many as twelve times in twenty minutes and as often as 500 times a year. Airplanes are not as easy to protect as buildings, and accidents do happen. In 1963 a Boeing 707 jet was hit by lightning and crashed. Eighty-one people died.
If you see thunder and lightning coming, here are some things you can do to protect yourself. Go inside a house, get into a car, or go under a bridge. If you cannot find shelter, go to the lowest point on the