1. By Seth Franklin and Brandon Lynch Lightning

2. What is Lightning? • Lightning is a massive electrical discharge from electrical charged regions in clouds. • There are three main types of lightning: From a cloud to itself (intra-cloud), from cloud to another cloud, or from a cloud to the ground.

3. Plasma and how Clouds generate lightning • There are billions of tiny particles in clouds that are constantly rubbing against each other and create static electricity. This static electricity is so large in clouds that lightning forms. • Lightning and fire are two of the only plasmas found naturally on Earth. A plasma is a gas that has come into contact with an electric field which caused its particles to gain energy.

4. Damage that Lightning Causes • Causes an average of 55-60 fatalities and 400 injuries a year • Costs more than $1 million in insured losses each year • Occurs in every Thunderstorm

5. History’s biggest lightning storms • In Puerto Concha, Venezuela a lightning storm rages continuously for up to 10 hours a night 260 nights a year. • It can be seen from as much as 200 miles away.