earth-science
Lightning Strike
What triggers a lightning strike?
The extraordinary journey of a lightning bolt: from creation to destruction, outer space to the inner workings of the human brain, life and death – all in less than the blink of an eye. We look at lightning - one of nature’s weirdest, most destructive and well observed phenomena. But it’s also one of the least understood. Faster than a speeding bullet, six times hotter than the surface of the sun, it can turn sand to glass, and strikes our planet up to eight million times every day. We follow a bolt on its incredible journey through the atmosphere, from creation, to destruction – and beyond. We reveal dramatic new discoveries, shocking experiments that prove lightning is one of the weirdest, most destructive, and important phenomena on Earth.
Produced by Martin Gorst
Directed by Billie Pink
Price: $19.99
About Video
One Page Synopsis
Faster than a speeding bullet, six times hotter than the surface of the sun, it can turn sand to glass, and strikes our planet up to eight million times every day – lightning.
Lightning is one of nature’s weirdest, most destructive and well observed phenomena. But it’s also one of the least understood.
To unlock the secrets of a lightning strike, we follow a bolt on its incredible journey through the atmosphere, from creation, to destruction – and beyond. We reveal dramatic new discoveries, shocking experiments that prove lightning is one of the weirdest, most destructive, and important phenomena on earth.
Our journey begins seconds before lightning strikes, in a city that’s home to some of the most violent lightning storms on earth: Darwin, northern Australia. Here we venture into the heart of a monster storm cloud to observe at close range the mysterious forces that trigger a lightning bolt.
In Florida we make our own lightning, and discover why each lightning bolt may owe its awesome power to the death of a star in outer space, millions of light years ago.
We witness the devastating effects of a lightning strike, and use dramatic experiments and advanced computer graphics to follow the current on its terrible journey through the body and mind.
Seconds after impact, we venture into a twilight world: that seems more like science fiction than fact. We encounter strange balls of fire, ghostly apparitions above the clouds, and bizarre new phenomena that take us beyond the frontiers of science.
Finally, our journey takes us into outer space, as we reveal new research that could mean lightning, one of nature’s most destructive phenomena, could also be one of its most important, that without lightning life as we know it might grind to a halt.
The extraordinary journey of a lightning bolt: from creation to destruction, outer space to the inner workings of the human brain, life and death – all in less than the blink of an eye.
ASPECT RATIO 4.3
MAIN SOUNDTRACK English Stereo
DISC FORMAT DVD 5
REGION 1 NTSC
CLASSIFICATION Exempt
NOTE Not available for shipment outside the USA
Runtime: 54 minutes
