Lightning from cosmic rays

[36grit]

Are there credible theorys out there that suggest that lightning /or some percentage thereof/ is the result of cosmic rays cruzing through the atmosphere?

 

I've read that a bolt of lightning can produce anti matter in high altitudes. It seems reasonable to me that it should take no more energy than this to create matter, like maybe hydrogen from energy. Of course the hydrogen would probably explode from the heat. I guess the waste byproduct of hydrogen would have to be left behind.

[baric]

Are there credible theorys out there that suggest that lightning /or some percentage thereof/ is the result of cosmic rays cruzing through the atmosphere?

 

I've read that a bolt of lightning can produce anti matter in high altitudes. It seems reasonable to me that it should take no more energy than this to create matter, like maybe hydrogen from energy. Of course the hydrogen would probably explode from the heat. I guess the waste byproduct of hydrogen would have to be left behind.

 

I read about the cosmic ray-lightning connection a few years ago. Google found the SciAm article online: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=experts-do-cosmic-rays-cause-lightning

 

It's an interesting read!

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by hydrogen "exploding" from the heat. If you are talking about fusion, there's not nearly enough heat in a lightning strike to trigger it.

[questionposter]

Are there credible theorys out there that suggest that lightning /or some percentage thereof/ is the result of cosmic rays cruzing through the atmosphere?

 

I've read that a bolt of lightning can produce anti matter in high altitudes. It seems reasonable to me that it should take no more energy than this to create matter, like maybe hydrogen from energy. Of course the hydrogen would probably explode from the heat. I guess the waste byproduct of hydrogen would have to be left behind.

 

Some lightning can be linked to cosmic rays, but I think it's just linked to super charged particles in general, because about a week or two after the nuclear powerplant incident in Japan where radioactive dust was released into the atmosphere, I saw super thunderstorms with a lot more power than I've seen in the past, literally two lightning strikes every single second, and now, the most recent thunderstorm barely had any, which sort of matches up with how the fallout settled and spread out more.

Edited October 26, 2011 by questionposter

[Moontanman]

Some lightning can be linked to cosmic rays, but I think it's just linked to super charged particles in general, because about a week or two after the nuclear powerplant incident in Japan where radioactive dust was released into the atmosphere, I saw super thunderstorms with a lot more power than I've seen in the past, literally two lightning strikes every single second, and now, the most recent thunderstorm barely had any, which sort of matches up with how the fallout settled and spread out more.

 

 

Um do you live near the Japanese nuclear power plant?

[insane_alien]

cosmic rays may trigger lightning in the same way radiation travelling through a geiger-muller tube triggers a spark but it is not the be all and end all cause of lightning

 

if it was the only factor then everywhere would have constant lightning storms.

 

and it will only trigger in certain circumstances, a highly charged cloud on the verge of breakdown.

 

it'll either release by further increasing the charge (happens over time) or something can make the air inbewteen more conductive(a cosmic ray.)

[questionposter]

Um do you live near the Japanese nuclear power plant?

 

Well, when Mt. St. Helena exploded in Alaska, the mainland of the US all the way to a little past the mid-west was effected. Thunderstorms in the region where I live start out their cycle close to the East coast which means less distance for the fallout to travel, and it was eve predicted that some fallout would reach the US. Maybe it's a little too far-fetched based on that one incident, but I'm guessing the ions from radioactive decay and charge things, especially since Americium batteries are already being developed.