How to get energy from lightning. Alternative energy sources

One of the first companies to use energy from thunderclouds was the American company Alternative Energy Holdings. She proposed a way to use free energy by collecting and utilizing it, arising from electrical discharges of thunderclouds. The experimental setup was launched in 2007 and was called the “lightning collector”. The development and research of thunderstorms contains huge accumulations of energy, which an American company has proposed to use as a source of electricity.

lightning power plant

A lightning power plant, in fact, is a classic power plant that converts lightning energy into electricity. At the moment, lightning power is being actively researched, and it is possible in the near future that lightning power plants will appear in large numbers along with other clean energy power plants.

Lightning as a source of lightning surges

Thunderstorms are electrical discharges that accumulate in large quantities in clouds. Due to air currents in thunderclouds, positive and negative charges are accumulated and separated, although issues on this topic are still being investigated.

One of the widespread assumptions of the formation of electric charges in clouds is due to the fact that this physical process occurs in a constant electric field of the earth, which was discovered by M.V. Lomonosov during experiments.

Rice. 3.1.

Our planet always has a negative charge, while the electric field strength near the earth's surface is about 100 V/m. It is due to the charges of the earth and depends little on the time of year and day, and is almost the same for any point on the earth's surface. The air surrounding the Earth has free charges that move in the direction of the Earth's electric field. Each cubic centimeter of air near the earth's surface contains about 600 pairs of positively and negatively charged particles. With distance from the earth's surface, the density of charged particles in the air increases. Near the ground, the air conductivity is low, but at a distance of 80 km from the earth's surface it increases 3 billion times and reaches the conductivity of fresh water.

Thus, in terms of electrical properties, the Earth with the surrounding atmosphere can be represented as a spherical capacitor of colossal dimensions, the plates of which are the Earth and a conducting layer of air located at a distance of 80 km from the Earth's surface. An insulating layer between these plates is a low-electricity-conducting layer of air 80 km thick. Between the plates of such a capacitor, the voltage is about 200 kV, and the current passing under the influence of this voltage is 1.4 kA. Capacitor power is about 300 MW. In the electric field of this capacitor, in the range from 1 to 8 km from the Earth's surface, thunderclouds form and thunderstorm phenomena occur.

Lightning, as a carrier of electric charges, is the closest source to electricity, in comparison with other AES. The charge that accumulates in clouds has a potential of several million volts relative to the surface of the Earth. The direction of the lightning current can be both from the ground to the cloud, with a negative charge of the cloud (in 90% of cases), and from the cloud to the ground (in 10% of cases). The duration of a lightning discharge is on average 0.2 s, rarely up to 1 ... 1.5 s, the duration of the leading edge of the pulse is from 3 to 20 μs, the current is several thousand amperes, up to 100 kA, the powerful magnetic field and radio waves. Lightning can also be formed during dust storms, snowstorms, volcanic eruptions.

alternative energy lightning power plant

The principle of operation of a lightning power plant

Based on the same process as other power plants: converting source energy into electricity. In fact, lightning contains the same electricity, that is, nothing needs to be converted. However, the above parameters of the “standard” lightning discharge are so large that if this electricity gets into the network, then all the equipment will simply burn out in a matter of seconds. Therefore, powerful capacitors, transformers and various types of converters are introduced into the system, adjusting this energy to the required conditions of use in electrical networks and equipment.

Advantages and disadvantages of a lightning power plant

Advantages of lightning power plants:

The ground-ionospheric supercapacitor is constantly recharged with the help of renewable energy sources - the sun and radioactive elements of the earth's crust.

The lightning power plant does not release any pollutants into the environment.

The equipment of lightning stations is not striking. The balloons are too high to be seen with the naked eye. To do this, you need a telescope or binoculars.

A lightning power plant is able to generate energy continuously if the balls are kept in the air.

Disadvantages of lightning power plants:

Lightning electricity, like solar or wind energy, is difficult to store.

High voltages in lightning systems can be hazardous to operating personnel.

The total amount of electricity that can be obtained from the atmosphere is limited.

At best, lightning power can only serve as a marginal supplement to other energy sources.

Thus, lightning energy is currently quite unreliable and vulnerable. However, this does not diminish its importance in favor of switching to AIE. Some areas of the planet are saturated with favorable conditions, which can significantly continue the study of thunderstorms and the production of the necessary electricity from them.

Today, the whole world is provided with electricity through the burning of coal and gas (fossil fuel), the exploitation of the water flow and the control of a nuclear reaction. These approaches are quite effective, but in the future we will have to abandon them, turning to such a direction as alternative energy.

Much of this need is due to the fact that fossil fuels are limited. In addition, traditional methods of generating electricity are one of the factors of environmental pollution. That's why the world needs a "healthy" alternative.

We offer our version of the TOP of non-traditional ways of generating energy, which in the future may become a replacement for conventional power plants.

7th place. Distributed energy

Before considering alternative energy sources, let's analyze one interesting concept that can change the structure of the energy system in the future.

Today, electricity is produced at large stations, transferred to distribution networks and delivered to our homes. The distributed approach implies a gradual rejection of centralized electricity production. This can be achieved through the construction of small energy sources in close proximity to the consumer or consumer group.

As energy sources can be used:

• microturbine power plants;
• gas turbine power plants;
• steam boilers;
• solar panels;
• windmills;
• heat pumps, etc.

Such mini power plants for the home will be connected to a common network. Surplus energy will flow there, and if necessary, the power grid will be able to compensate for the lack of power, for example, when solar panels perform worse due to cloudy weather.

However, the implementation of this concept today and in the near future is unlikely, if we talk about the global scale. This is primarily due to the high cost of transition from centralized to distributed energy.

6th place. Thunderstorm energy

Why generate electricity when you can just "catch" it out of thin air? On average, one lightning strike is 5 billion J of energy, which is equivalent to burning 145 liters of gasoline. Theoretically, lightning power plants will reduce the cost of electricity at times.

Everything will look like this: stations are located in regions with increased thunderstorm activity, "collect" discharges and accumulate energy. After that, the energy is fed into the grid. You can catch lightning with the help of giant lightning rods, but the main problem remains - to accumulate as much lightning energy as possible in a split second. At the present stage, supercapacitors and voltage converters are indispensable, but a more delicate approach may appear in the future.

If we talk about electricity "from the air", we can not remember the adherents of the formation of free energy. For example, Nikola Tesla at one time supposedly demonstrated a device for obtaining electric current from the ether for the operation of a car.

5th place. Burning renewable fuel

Instead of coal, power plants can burn the so-called " biofuel ". These are processed plant and animal raw materials, waste products of organisms and some industrial wastes of organic origin. Examples include conventional firewood, wood chips and biodiesel, which is found at gas stations.

In the energy sector, wood chips are most often used. It is collected during logging or woodworking. After grinding, it is pressed into fuel pellets and sent to thermal power plants in this form.

By 2019, the construction of the largest power plant, which will run on biofuels, should be completed in Belgium. According to forecasts, it will have to produce 215 MW of electricity. That's enough for 450,000 homes.

Interesting fact! Many countries practice the cultivation of the so-called "energy forest" - trees and shrubs that are best suited for energy needs.

Whether alternative energy will develop in the direction of biofuels is still unlikely, because there are more promising solutions.

4th place. Tidal and wave power plants

Traditional hydroelectric power plants work according to the following principle:

1. The water pressure is supplied to the turbines.
2. The turbines start to spin.
3. The rotation is transmitted to generators that generate electricity.

The construction of a hydroelectric power station is more expensive than a thermal power station and is possible only in places with large reserves of water energy. But the main problem is the damage to ecosystems due to the need to build dams.

Tidal power plants operate on a similar principle, but use the power of ebbs and flows to generate energy.

"Water" types of alternative energy include such an interesting direction as wave energy. Its essence boils down to the generation of electricity through the use of ocean wave energy, which is much higher than the tidal one. The most powerful wave power plant today is Pelamis P-750 , which generates 2.25 MW of electrical energy.

Swinging on the waves, these huge convectors ("snakes") bend, as a result of which hydraulic pistons begin to move inside. They pump oil through hydraulic motors, which in turn turn electric generators. The resulting electricity is delivered to the shore through a cable that is laid along the bottom. In the future, the number of convectors will be multiplied and the station will be able to generate up to 21 MW.

3rd place. Geothermal stations

Alternative energy is well developed in the geothermal direction. Geothermal stations generate electricity by actually converting the energy of the earth, or rather, the thermal energy of underground sources.

There are several types of such power plants, but in all cases they are based on the same operating principle: steam from an underground source rises through the well and rotates a turbine connected to an electric generator. Today, a common practice is when water is pumped into an underground reservoir to a great depth, where it evaporates under the influence of high temperatures and enters the turbines in the form of steam under pressure.

Areas with a large number of geysers and open thermal springs that are heated due to volcanic activity are best suited for geothermal energy purposes.

So, in California there is a whole geothermal complex called " Geysers ". It unites 22 stations producing 955 MW. The source of energy in this case is a magma chamber with a diameter of 13 km at a depth of 6.4 km.

2nd place. wind farms

Wind energy is one of the most popular and promising sources for generating electricity.

The principle of operation of the wind generator is simple:

• blades rotate under the influence of wind force;
• rotation is transmitted to the generator;
• the generator produces alternating current;
• The resulting energy is usually stored in batteries.

The power of the wind generator depends on the span of the blades and its height. Therefore, they are installed in open areas, fields, hills and in the coastal zone. Installations with 3 blades and a vertical axis of rotation work most efficiently.

Interesting fact! In fact, wind energy is a kind of solar energy. This is explained by the fact that winds arise due to uneven heating of the earth's atmosphere and surface by the sun's rays.

To make a windmill, deep knowledge of engineering is not needed. So, many craftsmen could afford to disconnect from the general power grid and switch to alternative energy.

Vestas V-164 is the most powerful wind turbine today. It generates 8 MW.

For the production of electricity on an industrial scale, wind farms are used, consisting of many windmills. The largest power plant is Alta located in California. Its capacity is 1550 MW.

1 place. Solar power plants (SPP)

Solar energy has the greatest prospects. The technology of converting solar radiation with the help of photocells is developing from year to year, becoming more and more efficient.

In Russia, solar energy is relatively poorly developed. However, some regions show excellent results in this industry. Take, for example, the Crimea, where several powerful solar power plants operate.

May develop in the future space energy. In this case, solar power plants will be built not on the surface of the earth, but in the orbit of our planet. The most important advantage of this approach is that photovoltaic panels will be able to receive much more sunlight, because. this will not be hindered by the atmosphere, the weather and the seasons.

Conclusion

Alternative energy has several promising areas. Its gradual development will sooner or later lead to the replacement of traditional methods of generating electricity. And it is not necessary that only one of the listed technologies will be used all over the world. See the video below for more on this.

Usually, when people talk about alternative energy, they traditionally mean installations for the production of electrical energy from renewable sources - sunlight and wind. With all this, statistics exclude the creation of electricity at hydroelectric power plants, stations that use the power of sea and ocean tides, as well as geothermal power plants. Although, these energy sources are also considered renewable. But, they are classic, they have been used on an industrial scale for many years.

An alternative energy source is considered a renewable resource, it replaces the classical energy sources operating on oil, extracted natural gas and coal, which, when burned, release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to the rise in the greenhouse effect and global warming.
The root cause of the search for alternative energy sources is the need to obtain it from the energy of renewable or virtually inexhaustible natural resources and phenomena. Among other things, environmental friendliness and economy can be taken into account.

The main sources of energy for this type of systems are considered to be the energy of the Sun, wind and the natural state of the soil on the Earth's surface (for ground source thermal pumps). Using renewable energy sources, we significantly influence the ecology and the energy crisis on Earth, we also get autonomy from conventional types of energy, significant cost savings and confidence in the future.

Alternative energy industries

Solar energy

Solar power plants are one of the most common on the planet, operate in more than 80 countries around the world and use an inexhaustible source of energy - sunlight.
In the course of generating electricity, and, if necessary, also heat for heating residential premises and supplying warm water, they cause practically no damage to the environment.

Solar energy is very dependent on the weather and time of day: on a cloudy day and, especially, at night, electricity cannot be obtained. We have to acquire rechargeable batteries, which multiplies the cost of installing solar panels, for example, in the country, and who creates unfavorable moments for the environment due to the need to dispose of the same used batteries.
In addition to photovoltaic cells and photobatteries, solar collectors and solar water heaters are also widely used, they are used both for heating water for heating and for generating electricity.
Germany, Japan and Spain are considered leaders in the popularization of solar energy. It is clear that the southern powers have superiority here, where the sun hotly illuminates practically both in winter and in summer.

Wind power

Wind energy is classified as renewable energy, because it is considered a consequence of the activity of the Sun. Wind power is considered a booming industry. By the beginning of 2014, the total capacity of all wind turbines was approximately 320 gigawatts!
The top five in the world's wind power generation are China, the US, Germany, Denmark and Portugal.
Here, again, almost everything depends on weather conditions: in some states the wind does not subside for a single moment, in others, on the contrary, it is calm most of the time.

Wind energy has both significant advantages and equally significant disadvantages. Compared to solar panels, "windmills" are cheap and do not depend on the time of day, therefore, they are often found in suburban areas. There is only one significant minus for wind turbines - they are pretty noisy. The installation of such equipment will have to be coordinated not only with relatives, but also with the inhabitants of nearby houses.

geothermal energy

In areas with volcanic activity, where groundwater can be heated above the boiling point, it is optimal to build geothermal thermal power plants (GeoTPP).
It is used both for heating water for heating, but also for the production of electricity. Geothermal power plants generate most of the electricity in Central America, the Philippines, Iceland; Iceland, among other things, is an example of a power where thermal waters are widely used for heating and heating.

A big plus of geothermal energy is its actual inexhaustibility and absolute autonomy from environmental conditions, time of day and year.
There are the following fundamental possibilities of using the heat of the earth's depths. Water or a mixture of water and steam, depending on their temperature, can be directed for hot water supply and heat supply, for generating electricity, or for all these purposes at once. The high-temperature heat of the near-volcanic region and dry rocks is desirable to be used for electricity generation and heat supply. The design of the station depends on which source of geothermal energy is used.
The main problem that arises when using underground thermal waters is the need for a repeatable cycle of inflow (injection) of water (traditionally exhausted) into the underground aquifer. Thermal waters contain many salts of various toxic metals (for example, boron, lead, zinc, cadmium, arsenic) and chemical compounds (ammonia, hydroxybenzenes), which excludes the discharge of these waters into natural water systems located on the surface.

Alternative hydropower

Non-standard use of the planet's aqua resources for energy generation involves three types of power plants: wave, tidal and waterfall. At the same time, the first ones are considered the most promising: the average wave power of the world ocean is estimated at 15 kW per meter, and with a wave height above two meters, the peak power can reach as much as 80 kW / m.
The main feature of wave power plants is the difficulty of converting the movement of waves "up and down" into the rotation of the generator disk, but modern developments are gradually finding solutions to this problem.

Tidal power plants have significantly less power than wave power plants, but they are much easier and more comfortable to build in the coastal zone of the seas. The gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun replace the water level in the sea twice a day (the difference can reach 2 tens of meters), which makes it possible to use the energy of the tides to generate electricity.

biofuel

Biofuel - fuel from plant or animal raw materials, from the waste products of organisms or organic industrial waste. There are liquid biofuels (for internal combustion engines, for example, ethanol, methanol, biodiesel), solid biofuels (firewood, briquettes, fuel pellets, wood chips, grass, husks) and gaseous (synthesized gas, biogas, hydrogen).
Liquid, solid and gaseous biofuels can become a replacement not only for conventional sources of electricity, but also for fuel. Unlike oil and natural gas, which cannot be recovered, biofuels can be produced under synthetic conditions.

The prospect is for liquid and gaseous biofuels: biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas and synthesis gas. They are all produced on the basis of plants rich in sugar or fats: sweet cane, corn, and even marine phytoplankton. The latter option does have endless possibilities: growing aquatic plants in synthetic conditions is not a tricky business.

Thunderstorm energy

Lightning is considered an extremely unreliable source of energy, because it is impossible to predict in advance where and how soon a thunderstorm will occur.
Another problem of lightning energy is that the lightning discharge lasts for a fraction of seconds and, as a result, its energy must be stored up rather quickly. Massive and expensive capacitors are required to achieve the desired result. Among other things, different oscillatory systems with circuits of the second and third families can be used, where it is possible to coordinate the load with the internal resistance of the generator.

Lightning is considered a complex electrical process and is divided into several types: negative - accumulating in the lower part of the cloud and positive - gathering in the upper part of the cloud. This should also be taken into account when developing lightning receivers.
According to scientists, one powerful thunderstorm releases about as much energy as the average person in the United States consumes in 20 minutes.

Hydrogen energy

A type of alternative energy based on the use of hydrogen as a means for the accumulation, transportation and consumption of energy by people, transport infrastructure and various production areas. Hydrogen was chosen for a reason, but because it is the most common element on the surface of the earth and in space, the heat of combustion of hydrogen is higher, and the product of combustion in oxygen is water (which is again being introduced into the circulation of hydrogen energy).

Today, the production of hydrogen will require more energy than can be obtained by using it, so it is impossible to consider it a source of energy. It is considered only a means of storing and delivering energy.
But there is also a big danger of mass production of hydrogen, if hydrogen leaks from a cylinder or other storage tanks, being lighter than air, it will irrevocably leave the Earth's atmosphere, which, with the mass application of technologies, can lead to a global loss of water if hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water.

space energy

It provides for the use of solar energy to generate electricity, from the location of power stations in earth orbit or on the moon, the electricity from which will be transmitted to earth in the form of microwave radiation. May contribute to global warming. Still not applied.

In 2012, alternative energy (excluding hydropower) accounted for 5.1% of all energy consumed by mankind.

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Thunderstorm energy is a method on the basis of which energy is obtained by capturing and redirecting lightning energy to electrical networks. This type of energy uses renewable energy sources. Lightning is a large electrical spark that appears in the atmosphere. Based on the researchers' assessments, it was determined that on average 100 lightning strikes occur every second. About a quarter of all lightning strikes the ground. Studies have shown that, as a rule, the value of the average lightning length will be about 2.5 km, there are discharges that can propagate over distances of up to 20 km. If you install a lightning protection station, where lightning is considered a private phenomenon, then there are opportunities to obtain a large amount of energy that will be used by consumers.

thunderstorm energy

alternative energy sources

electricity

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Mankind continuously needs to consume energy - this can be observed since ancient times. It is necessary to have energy not only in order to carry out the normal functioning of a complex existing society, but also in order to ensure physical existence among any human organisms.

If we analyze the features of development in human society, we can see that they are largely due to the production and use of energy. One can observe a rather large influence from the energy potential on how various technical innovations are introduced, it is difficult for us to imagine the realization of development opportunities in the industrial sphere, science, culture without the use of earthly energy resources. Based on the use of energy, humanity has the opportunity to create more and more comfortable living conditions, while there is a sharp increase in the gap between them and nature.

It can be seen that the processes associated with the development of various methods related to the extraction of energy arose even in ancient times, even then people were able to learn how to make fire and, under existing conditions, there is the movement of fuel in complex urban systems.

Based on the fact that there is a possibility of depletion of natural fuel resources (oil, gas, etc.) over time, work is being carried out related to the search for alternative energy sources. According to them, the possibilities of thunderstorm energy can be noted.

Thunderstorm energy is a method that allows you to receive energy based on the fact that the lightning energy is fixed and redirected to electrical networks. This type of energy is based on a renewable energy source. Lightning is a large electrical spark that appears in the atmosphere. For the most part, it can be observed during a thunderstorm. Lightning can be seen as a bright flash of light and it is accompanied by thunder peals. It is interesting that lightning can also be observed on other planets: Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, etc. The value of the current during a lightning discharge can reach up to several tens and even hundreds of thousands of amperes, and the value of the voltage - up to millions of volts.

Studies that concerned the electrical nature of lightning were carried out in the works of the American physicist B. Franklin, on the basis of his developments, experiments were carried out concerning the extraction of electricity from thunderclouds. Franklin published a paper in 1750 containing a description of experiments using kites launched during a thunderstorm.

Mikhail Lomonosov is considered as the author of the first hypothesis, within its framework there was an explanation of the phenomenon of electrification in thunderclouds. At altitudes of several tens of kilometers, conductive layers of the atmosphere are being placed; they were discovered in the 20th century. Based on the involvement of different methods of research, this also applies to space, there are opportunities to study different characteristics of the atmosphere.

Atmospheric electricity can be viewed as a set of electrical phenomena that are carried out occurring in the atmosphere. When research is carried out on atmospheric electricity, then the electric field in the atmosphere is studied, the features of its ionization, the characteristics of electric currents, and other properties are considered. There are different manifestations of atmospheric electricity due to the fact that local meteorological factors influence. In the field of atmospheric electricity, numerous processes are observed both in the tropospheric region and in the stratosphere.

Theories related to atmospheric electricity were developed by researchers Ch. Wilson and Ya.I. Frenkel. Based on Wilson's theory, it is possible to isolate a capacitor, its plates are the Earth and the ionosphere, and their charge comes from thunderclouds. The electric field of the atmosphere appears due to the fact that there is a potential difference that occurs between the capacitor plates. Based on Frenkel's theory, there are possibilities for explaining the electric field of the atmosphere on the basis of electrical phenomena that occur in the tropospheric region.

Studies show that in many cases the average length of lightning reaches about 2.5 km, you can meet discharges that spread over distances of up to 20 km.

A certain classification of lightning can be noted.

Let us discuss the characteristics related to terrestrial lightning. When ground lightning is formed, it can be represented as a combination of several stages. For the first stage, in those areas for which the electric field reaches a critical value, one can see the phenomenon of impact ionization, it is first formed due to free charges, they can always be observed in the surrounding air, due to the electric field they achieve large velocities in the direction of the earth and, due to the fact that there are collisions with the molecules that form the air, they are ionized.

If we consider modern ideas, then the implementation of ionization processes in the atmosphere, when a discharge passes, is carried out, since high-energy cosmic radiation - particles influences, while it can be observed that the breakdown voltage in the air decreases when compared with normal conditions. Then the formation of electron avalanches occurs, they will turn into the corresponding threads in electric discharges, they speak of streamers, they are well-conducting channels, due to merging, a channel with high conductivity is formed.

There is a movement of such a leader towards the ground based on a stepped pattern, it reaches a speed that will be several tens of thousands of km / s, then its movement slows down, it can be observed that the glow decreases, then the next step begins. The value of the average speed of the leader to the earth's surface will be about 200,000 m/s. There is an increase in tension near the earth's surface and a response streamer appears, then it connects with the leader. A similar characteristic of lightning is used when creating a lightning rod.

For the final stage, the main lightning discharge occurs, it reaches values ​​of currents up to hundreds of thousands of amperes, the brightness is observed, it is significantly greater than the brightness of the leader, in addition, the value of its speed will be several tens of km/m. The temperature value in the channel, which belongs to the main category, reaches up to several thousand degrees. The value of the length of the lightning channel will be mainly several kilometers.

For intracloud lightning, there are mostly only leader components; they will be from 1 to 150 km in length. When lightning occurs, they observe changes in electric and magnetic fields and radio emission, they speak of atmospherics.

More than 20 years ago, a certain type of lightning was discovered, called elves, they belong to the upper atmosphere. They are large flares-cones, which are characterized by diameters of the order of 400 km. After, after a certain time, other types were discovered - jets, which were presented as tube-cones, having a blue color, they have a height reaching 40-70 km.

As a result of the researchers' assessments, it was shown that, on average, about 100 lightning strikes occur every second. About a quarter of all lightning strikes the earth's surface.

The lightning discharge can be considered as an electrical explosion and for certain cases it is similar to the detonation process. As a result, a shock wave appears, its occurrence is dangerous in case of close proximity, it can damage buildings, trees. At large distances, the process of degeneration of shock waves into sound waves occurs - thunder peals are heard.

You can note the average annual number of days when a thunderstorm occurs for some Russian cities: in Arkhangelsk - 16, Murmansk - 5, St. Petersburg - 18, Moscow - 27, Voronezh - 32, Rostov-on-Don - 27, Astrakhan - 15, Samara - 26, Kazan - 23, Yekaterinburg - 26, Syktyvkar - 21, Orenburg - 22, Ufa - 29, Omsk - 26, Khanty-Mansiysk - 17, Tomsk - 23, Irkutsk - 15, Yakutsk - 14, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - 0 , Khabarovsk - 20, Vladivostok - 9.

There is some classification by thunderclouds, which is carried out based on thunderstorm characteristics, and there is a dependence of such characteristics largely on the meteorological environment in which thunderstorm development processes occur. In the case of single-cell cumulonimbus clouds, development processes will occur when the wind is small and the pressure changes weakly. There are local thunderstorms.

For the size of the clouds, it is characteristic that they will be on average about 10 kilometers, the duration of their life does not exceed 1 hour. A thunderstorm appears after a cumulus cloud has formed when there is good weather. Due to favorable conditions, cumulus clouds are growing in various directions.

In the upper parts of the clouds, ice crystals are forming, as cooling occurs, the clouds turn into powerful cumulus clouds. Conditions are formed for precipitation to fall. This will be a cumulonimbus cloud. Due to the evaporating precipitation particles, cooling processes are observed in the ambient air. At the stage of maturity, there are both ascending and descending air currents in the clouds at the same time.

At the stage of decay in the clouds there is a predominance of downdrafts, and then they gradually cover the entire cloud. A very common type of thunderstorms are multicell cluster thunderstorms. Their sizes can reach from 10 to 1000 kilometers. For a multi-cell cluster, a set of thunderstorm cells is noted, they move as a single whole, however, each cell in the cluster is located at different steps of thundercloud changes. In thunderstorm cells that exist at the stage of maturity, the central region of the cluster is mostly characteristic, and in decaying cells, the leeward part in the cluster is characteristic. Most of them are about 20-40 km across. For multi-celled cluster thunderstorms, hail may occur and showers may occur.

In the structure of multi-cell linear thunderstorms, one can note the line of thunderstorms, it has a long, fairly developed front according to wind gusts in the front front lines. Since there are squall lines, there may be large hail and heavy downpours.

The appearance of supercell clouds can be relatively rare, but their occurrence can lead to great threats to human life. There is a semblance of a supercell cloud and a single cell cloud, they are characterized by one zone of the updraft. However, there is a difference, which is that the value of the cell size is quite large: the diameter can reach several tens of kilometers, the heights will be about 10-15 kilometers (in some cases, the upper boundary is penetrating into the stratosphere). At the beginning of a thunderstorm, the characteristic air temperature near the ground is about +27: +30 and more. As a rule, there is a little rain in the leading edge of the supercell cloud.

Researchers have demonstrated on the basis of aircraft and radar research that in many cases the height of a single thunderstorm cell can be on the order of 8-10 km and its lifetime value is about 30 minutes. In the case of updrafts and downdrafts, isolated thunderstorms are characterized by a diameter that ranges from 0.5 to 2.5 km and a height of 3 to 8 km.

There is a dependence of the parameters of the speed and movement of thunderclouds on how they are located relative to the earth's surface, on how the processes of interaction take place along the ascending and descending flows of clouds with those areas of the atmosphere where the development of thunderstorms is observed. The speed of an isolated thunderstorm is usually on the order of 20 km/h, but higher values ​​can be obtained in some thunderstorms. If there are extreme situations, then the values ​​of speeds in a thundercloud can be up to 65 - 80 km/h.

The energy that powers a thunderstorm is because there is latent heat that is released when water vapor condenses and cloud droplets form. In these processes, for every gram of water condensing in the atmosphere, about 600 calories of heat are released. When the water droplets in the upper parts of the clouds freeze, another 80 calories per gram are in the process of being released. The thermal energy arising from the release processes is partially converted into energy, which belongs to the upward flows. When making estimates of the total energy in thunderstorms, you can get a value of the order of 108 kilowatt-hours, we can correlate this with a nuclear charge of 20 kilotons. In case there are large multi-cell thunderstorms, the energy value can be more than 10 times.

The structural features of how electric charges are located both in the inner and outer regions of thunderclouds obey complex patterns. However, at the same time, we can imagine what a generalized picture of the distribution of electric charges that characterize the stage of cloud maturity. A very large contribution belongs to the positive dipole structure. In it, in the upper region of the cloud, there is a positive charge, in the inner part of the cloud, there is a negative charge. When atmospheric ions move at the edges of the cloud, the processes of formation of shielding layers occur, which lead to the masking of the electrical structure of the clouds relative to observers who are located outside them. The analysis leads to the fact that negative charges will refer to altitudes characterized by ambient air temperature, which lies in the range from -5 to -17 °C. With an increase in the speed of ascending flows in the clouds, the height of the centers of negative charges increases.

Features of the electrical structure in thunderclouds can be explained using different approaches. According to the main hypotheses, one can indicate one that is based on the fact that large cloud particles are characterized mainly by a negative charge, light particles are characterized by a positive charge. In addition, large particles have a high falling speed, which was confirmed on the basis of laboratory experiments. There may be a manifestation of other mechanisms of electrification. When the volumetric electric charge that exists in the cloud increases to certain values, a lightning discharge occurs.

The analysis shows that lightning can be considered as a rather unreliable source of energy, since it is quite difficult to make predictions on where and at what time a thunderstorm will appear. Lightning brings a voltage of the order of hundreds of millions of volts and the values ​​​​of peak currents can be up to 200 kiloamperes in some lightnings (in the general case - 5-20 kiloamperes).

There are still problems of lightning energy, which are associated with a very short duration of lightning discharges - a fraction of a second, in this regard, the use of powerful and very expensive capacitors is required.

That is, a large number of problems can be noted. But, if you make the installation of a lightning station, where lightning is considered as a frequent occurrence, then you can provide a large amount of energy that will be sent to consumers.

Bibliographic link

Kuznetsov D.A. DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES OF MODERN LIGHTNING ENERGY // International Student Scientific Bulletin. - 2017. - No. 4-6 .;
URL: http://eduherald.ru/ru/article/view?id=17585 (date of access: 06/15/2019). We bring to your attention the journals published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural History"

Thunderstorms are discharges of atmospheric electricity in the form of lightning, accompanied by thunder.

A thunderstorm is one of the most majestic phenomena in the atmosphere. It makes a particularly strong impression when it passes, as they say, "right over your head." Thunderbolt follows thunderbolt simultaneously with flashes of lightning in gale-force winds and heavy rain.

Thunder is a kind of explosion of air, when under the influence of the high temperature of lightning (about 20,000 °) it instantly expands and then contracts from cooling.

Linear lightning is a huge electric spark several kilometers long. Her appearance is accompanied by a deafening crack (thunder).

Scientists have been carefully observing and trying to study lightning for a long time. Its electrical nature was discovered by the American physicist W. Franklin and the Russian naturalist M. V. Lomonosov.

When a powerful cloud with large raindrops is formed, strong and uneven ascending air currents begin to crush the raindrops in its lower part. The separated outer droplet particles carry a negative charge, and the remaining nucleus is positively charged. Small droplets are easily carried upwards by the air flow and charge the upper layers of the cloud with negative electricity; large droplets gather at the bottom of the cloud and become positively charged. The strength of the lightning discharge depends on the strength of the air flow. This is the cloud electrification scheme. In reality, this process is much more complicated.

Lightning strikes often cause fires, destroy buildings, damage power lines, disrupt the movement of electric trains. To combat the harmful effects of lightning, it is necessary to “catch” it and carefully study it in the laboratory. This is not easy to do: after all, lightning breaks through the strongest insulation and experiments with it are dangerous. Nevertheless, scientists brilliantly cope with this task. To catch lightning, in mountain lightning laboratories, an antenna up to 1 km long is installed between mountain ledges or between a mountain and laboratory masts. Lightning strikes such antennas.

Having struck the current collector, the lightning enters the laboratory along the cable, passes through automatic recording devices and immediately goes into the ground. Automata make lightning seem to "sign" on paper. So it is possible to measure the voltage and current of lightning, the duration of the electric discharge, and much more.

It turned out that lightning has a voltage of 100 or more million volts, and the current reaches 200 thousand amperes. For comparison, we point out that voltages of tens and hundreds of thousands of volts are used in electric power transmission lines, and the current strength is expressed in hundreds and thousands of amperes. But in one lightning the amount of electricity is small, since its duration is usually calculated in small fractions of a second. One lightning bolt would be enough to power only one 100-watt light bulb for a day.

However, the use of "catchers" makes scientists wait for lightning strikes, and they are not so frequent. For research, it is much more convenient to create artificial lightning in laboratories. With the help of special equipment, scientists managed to get electricity voltage up to 5 million volts for a short time. The discharge of electricity gave sparks up to 15 meters long and was accompanied by a deafening crack.

Photography helps to study lightning. To do this, on a dark night, direct the camera lens to a thundercloud and leave the camera open for a while. After a flash of lightning, the camera lens is closed, and the picture is ready. But such a photograph does not give a picture of the development of individual parts of lightning, so special rotating cameras are used. It is necessary that the mechanism of the device during shooting rotates fast enough (1000-1500 revolutions per minute), then individual parts of the lightning will appear on the picture. They will show in which direction and with what speed the discharge developed.

There are several types of lightning

Flat lightning has the appearance of an electrical flash on the surface of clouds.

Linear lightning is a giant electric spark, very sinuous and with numerous appendages. The length of such lightning is 2-3 km, but it can be up to 10 km or more. Linear lightning has great power. It splits tall trees, sometimes infects people, and often causes fires when it hits wooden structures.

Inaccurate lightning - luminous dotted lightning running against the background of clouds. This is a very rare form of lightning.

Rocket lightning develops very slowly, its discharge lasts 1-1.5 seconds.

The rarest form of lightning is ball lightning. It is a round luminous mass. Ball lightning the size of a fist and even a head was observed indoors, and up to 20 m in diameter in a free atmosphere. Usually, ball lightning disappears without a trace, but sometimes it explodes with a terrible crash. When ball lightning appears, a whistling or buzzing sound is heard, it seems to boil, scattering sparks; after its disappearance, haze often remains in the air. The duration of ball lightning is from a second to several minutes. Its movement is associated with air currents, but in some cases it moves independently. Ball lightning occurs during severe thunderstorms.

Ball lightning occurs under the influence of a linear lightning discharge, when ionization and dissociation of the volume of ordinary air occur in the air. Both of these processes are accompanied by the absorption of a huge amount of energy. Ball lightning, in essence, has no right to be called lightning: after all, it is just air that is hot and charged with electrical energy. A bunch of charged air gradually gives up its energy to the free electrons of the surrounding layers of air. If the ball gives up its energy to the glow, then it simply disappears: it turns back into ordinary air. When on its way the ball meets any substances that act as stimulants, it explodes. Such pathogens can be oxides of nitrogen and carbon in the form of fumes, dust, soot, etc.

The temperature of ball lightning is about 5000°. It is also calculated that the energy of the explosion of the substance of ball lightning is 50-60 times higher than the energy of the explosion of smokeless powder.

During heavy thunderstorms, there is a lot of lightning. Thus, during one thunderstorm, an observer counted 1,000 lightning strikes in 15 minutes. During one thunderstorm in Africa, 7 thousand lightning strikes were noted per hour.

To protect buildings and other structures from lightning, a lightning rod is used, or, as it is now correctly called, a lightning rod. This is a metal rod connected to a securely grounded wire.

To protect yourself from lightning, do not stand under tall trees, especially those standing alone, as lightning often strikes them. Oak is very dangerous in this regard, because its roots go deep into the ground. Never, do not hide in haystacks and sheaves. In an open field, especially in elevated places, during a strong thunderstorm, a walking person is in great danger of being struck by lightning. In such cases, it is recommended to sit on the ground and wait out the storm.

Before a thunderstorm begins, it is necessary to eliminate drafts in the room and close all chimneys. In rural areas, you should not talk on the phone, especially during heavy thunderstorms. Usually, our rural telephone exchanges stop connecting at this time. Radio antennas should always be grounded during thunderstorms.

If an accident happens - someone will be shell-shocked by lightning, it is necessary to immediately provide the victim with first aid (artificial respiration, special infusions, etc.). In some places there is a harmful prejudice that one can help a person struck by lightning by burying his body in the ground. In no case should this be done: a person affected by lightning especially needs an increased flow of air to the body.

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