STRUCK TWICE! 10 ELECTRIFYING FACTS about LIGHTNING! (Including a man STRUCK BY LIGHTNING 7 times!)

STRUCK TWICE! 10 ELECTRIFYING FACTS about LIGHTNING! (Including a man STRUCK BY LIGHTNING 7 times!) 10. WHAT IS IT? In layman's terms, lightning is a massive electric spark (discharge of electrons) created by the collision of ice and water... The distinctive glow or "spark" we see results from rapidly moving electrons super-heating the air around them. 9. 1.4 BILLION Globally there are roughly 40-50 lightning flashes every second... That's nearly 1.4 billion lightning flashes every year. 8. HUMAN INDUCED Human activity can produce conditions favorable to lightning... Airplane contrails are an example -- as are rocket exhaust plumes and thermonuclear explosions. 7. VOLCANIC LIGHTNING Volcanic material hurled into the air -- as seen here at Mount Rinjani, Indonesia -- can produce lightning... The constantly moving ash within the volcanic plume produces an immense volume of highly charged particles. 6. MULTIPLE STRIKES Contrary to the popular myth, lightning can in fact "strike twice". The Empire State Building, for instance... Is hit dozens of times per year and a U.S. park ranger, Roy Cleveland Sullivan, was struck on 7 occasions between 1942 -1977. 5. IT'S LOUD The sound -- supersonic shock wave or "thunder" -- of lightning is caused by the rapid expansion and contraction of air molecules. Given the right conditions, the sound of lightning can be heard up to 12 miles away. 4. SPEED Lightning bolts travel at absolutely astonishing speeds... Typically streaking though the sky at around 4,000 miles per second! 3. DEADLY Lightning strikes kill more people globally than do tornadoes... If caught in an electrical storm immediately seek shelter in a substantial building or a car (DO NOT shelter under a tree). 2. HEAT A truly phenomenal amount of heat is generated by the rapidly moving electrons... Lightning can super heat the air to over 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- that's about 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. 1. POWER A typical bolt/electrostatic discharge is about 30,000 amps. Super-bolts have been recorded at a staggering 300,000 amps... A super-bolt has been known to carry a charge of around a billion volts! ***THE MUSIC*** --- called "The Maker" -- was composed by PETER MCISAAC MUSIC: http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/the-maker As per in video attributions, Dollar Photo Club images (with royalty free licences) were used along with "Public Domain" images (NASA etc) as well as Creative Commons licensed photos.