In: Physics
The average lightning bolt is about 5 miles long and how wide?
Lightning is a giant discharge of electricity accompanied by a brilliant flash of light. The average lightning bolt is five miles in length and only 1 inch in width. It only seems to appear bigger because the bolt is so bright. Lightning is extremely hot—a flash can heat the air around it to temperatures five times hotter than the sun’s surface. Lightning flashes more than 3 million times a day worldwide, equating to about 40 times a second. The average American has about a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning during a lifetime.