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Lightning, nature's electric superstar, often brings powerful storms filled with bright flashes, rumbling thunder, and occasional downpours. Yet, these dramatic displays are just a part of the strange phenomena that can occur after a lightning strike.
Lightning leaves behind some extraordinary effects on people, the ground, and even the atmosphere. From antimatter to 'elves,' here are ten strange remnants of lightning strikes you probably never knew existed!
10. Fossilized Bubbles
When a lightning strike hits a rock, it can create a network of bubbles inside the stone. These hollow spheres form when the heat from the strike vaporizes elements like water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen within the rock.
In 2016, researchers made a fascinating realization: the stone bubbles left behind by lightning strikes are not just a curious oddity. They serve as a natural thermometer, providing insight into the extreme temperatures materials reach after a strike and how long a rock remains hot. This discovery was groundbreaking, as lightning remains one of nature's most mysterious phenomena, and any new method of measuring its power is highly valued.
So, how do these 'thermo-bubbles' actually work? To determine the peak energy levels of a lightning strike after it hits a rock, researchers analyze factors such as the stone's material composition, the size, number, and distribution of the bubbles. Together, these elements reveal the hottest point of the strike.
9. Flawlessly Shaped Glass Spheres
Volcanoes are some of the most closely observed geological features on Earth. Given the extensive research dedicated to them, it was only a matter of time before scientists discovered tiny glass spheres within volcanic ash.
While finding glass at eruption sites isn’t uncommon, scientists have long known that volcanoes can produce glass. However, when these perfect spheres were uncovered in 2009, it was a total surprise. Previously, all volcanic glass had taken jagged, shard-like forms, so the smooth spheres were a remarkable anomaly. Despite the surprise, the origin of these spheres wasn’t a complete mystery.
Occasionally, when debris is ejected from a volcano, individual ash particles collide and generate enough friction to trigger lightning. These bolts are thought to heat the air to an intense 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (30,000 degrees Celsius), causing glass particles to melt into liquid form. As these droplets fall, they solidify into spherical shapes, cooling into solid glass balls.
8. A Rare and Extraordinary Crystal
Historically, scientists believed there were only two types of crystalline solids. The first group, which includes substances like table salt and diamonds, features atoms arranged in a repeating lattice pattern. The second group, which includes glass, has atoms that are randomly disordered, forming a chaotic mass.
Then came quasicrystals. These crystals exist in a unique state, displaying both order and disorder simultaneously. Their atoms form a pattern that repeats, but never in the same way. For years, this hybrid structure was considered purely theoretical, and scientists doubted the existence of such crystals.
However, quasicrystals began to appear in meteor impact sites and after nuclear explosions, indicating they form under extreme heat, pressure, and shock conditions. Researchers soon realized that lightning could create these conditions and began to study fulgurite (sand fused by lightning strikes) for quasicrystals.
In 2023, a piece of fulgurite found in Nebraska revealed the first quasicrystal believed to have originated from a lightning strike. Astonishingly, its atoms were arranged in an unusual 12-sided symmetry, and its composition had never been documented before.
7. Whistlers
Not all strange things left behind by lightning are physical objects or damage. One of the most intriguing phenomena are sounds, specifically odd whistling noises. These are produced by a rare type of lightning known as 'whistlers.' As the name suggests, these bolts don't generate the typical thunder, but instead create a whistling sound that some have compared to the pew-pew-pew sound in video games.
From a technical standpoint, whistlers are bursts of very-low-frequency (VLF) radio energy waves. They possess the incredible ability to travel halfway around the globe, following Earth's magnetic field lines. In one case, whistlers in Dunedin, New Zealand, were traced back to thunderstorms thousands of miles away off the coasts of Central and North America.
In 2008, the whistlers in Dunedin gained attention when their numbers surged dramatically from an average of 1,000 per day to 15,000. Researchers linked this surge to lightning generated by a volcanic eruption in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. In just 10 hours, over 21,000 whistlers were recorded. When the ash plume from the volcano collapsed, it stopped the lightning, and the whistlers abruptly ceased.
6. Sky Cleaner
In 2012, scientists made a discovery so unexpected that, initially, they thought their instruments were malfunctioning. However, as it turned out, their tools were working perfectly, and the data led to the astonishing realization that lightning can purify the atmosphere by eliminating harmful pollutants.
The revelation began when researchers flew into stormy areas over Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas to gather data after every lightning strike. Their findings revealed that large amounts of hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl appeared after each visible lightning flash, as well as in other electrically charged regions within the storm.
At first, the scientists questioned their instruments due to the surprising presence of these two compounds. However, upon closer inspection, it became clear that the data was accurate, confirming that lightning plays a major role in producing hydroxyl on Earth.
Hydroxyl is a highly reactive compound known for its ability to remove pollutants from the atmosphere by binding with them, so the discovery that lightning is contributing to Earth's environmental health is a welcome one.
5. Migraines
The University of Cincinnati has proposed that lightning could be a trigger for headaches and migraines. A 2013 study found that even when lightning struck as far as 25 miles (40 km) away from someone suffering from chronic headaches, the risk of them experiencing a headache increased by 31% and a migraine by 28%. Volunteers without a history of chronic headaches also showed a 23% increase in the likelihood of headaches and migraines.
Lightning generates electromagnetic waves, which might be responsible for triggering these conditions, though this remains unproven. Future studies may one day solve this mystery, but until then, sufferers can take comfort in knowing that lightning may elevate the risk of pain, allowing them to take preventive measures whenever thunderstorms are predicted.
4. Glowing Elves
In 1994, NASA detected gamma-ray flashes in thunderclouds for the first time. These flashes, known as TGFs (terrestrial gamma-ray flashes), quickly gained fame as the most energy-dense lights on Earth.
TGFs emerge when lightning energizes atmospheric particles to the point that they emit radiation. This radiation also leads to the creation of elves, though not the mythical variety. Instead, these 'elves' are bright rings, similar to auroras, that form around a lightning strike and rapidly spread.
There are still many mysteries surrounding TGFs and elves. For instance, it's unclear whether TGFs cause elves to appear or if they happen at the same time. Whether they occur together or separately, researchers suspect that both phenomena are likely more common than we can detect at present.
3. Life
Studies suggest that phosphorus was key to the origin of life on Earth. This essential chemical is crucial for forming vital biomolecules, like DNA. Early on, scientists thought meteorites were the main source of phosphorus, as these space rocks contain schreibersite, a mineral that releases phosphorus when wet.
A 2021 study proposed that lightning strikes could have also been a major—if not the sole—source of primordial schreibersite. When a bolt strikes the ground, it sometimes creates a root-like structure of melted sand or soil, known as fulgurite. Researchers studied one such fulgurite formation under a scanning electron microscope and discovered it contained schreibersite balls.
The research suggested that early Earth may have been struck by up to five billion lightning bolts every year. As a result, vast amounts of fulgurite deposits likely existed, releasing enough phosphorus into the environment to help life take root.
2. Antimatter
When people hear the term 'antimatter,' they often imagine something mysterious that only exists in the cosmos or in science fiction. However, Japanese researchers uncovered that antimatter can actually be found on Earth, with lightning playing a key role in this surprising discovery.
In 2015, researchers at Kyoto University set out to study gamma rays, a form of electromagnetic radiation. They already knew that thunderclouds and lightning were sources of gamma rays, and to explore this further, they installed detectors along Japan's lightning-prone western and northwestern coasts.
Two years later, four of these detectors captured gold. Situated in Kashiwazaki city, Niigata, the devices recorded an enormous gamma-ray spike immediately after a lightning strike occurred nearby. Astonishingly, the data revealed that the lightning's interaction with the atmosphere led to the production of positrons, the antimatter counterpart to electrons.
1. Bone Cells Under Stress from Fractures
When someone is struck by lightning, the typical injuries include severe burns and organ damage. However, what happens when the body has no soft tissues left? Recently, researchers explored a way to identify lightning-caused deaths in skeletal remains. This might sound strange, but it can be quite useful. For example, if a hiker perishes from a lightning strike in a remote area and their remains are found years later, this knowledge could help reveal the cause of death.
In 2021, a study revealed that lightning strikes leave a lethal mark on bones. This destruction was visible in both animal and human skeletons, with cracks radiating from the center of bone cells or between clusters of cells. It turns out that when lightning strikes a living creature, the electrical current sends a powerful shockwave through the bones, shattering the cells completely.
