How much is a thunderbolt worth?

1 lightning when struck down carries a huge energy source, temperature 30,000 ° C, 20 times the temperature needed to turn silica sand into glass. So why don't we collect energy from thunder and turn it into useful energy?

Lightning or lightning is the phenomenon of discharge in the atmosphere between clouds and earth or between clouds with other charges.

So how big is the current that a lightning carries?

Let's calculate the lightning discharge capacity of a lightning through the following small calculation:

The voltage of the thundercloud is about U = 50 million volts .

Maximum current intensity I = 200 thousand ampere . (By measuring the magnetization of the steel bar due to the current flowing into its coil when the lightning strikes the lightning protection device).

We have a discharge capacity

P = UI = (50,000,000V). (200,000A) / 2 = 5,000,000,000WW (5 billion kiloat kW).

(Note: As the discharge continues, the voltage has dropped to zero; therefore, when calculating the discharge capacity, the average voltage must be taken, in other words - take half of the original voltage. head).

To calculate the electricity (the power of the W current) that we can use, it is necessary to consider the factor of time t. The lightning launched such a terrible capacity but only lasted for a thousandth of a second.

W = Pt = 5 .10 ^ 9 kW.h / (3600.1000) = 1400 kW.h.

Our electricity tariff is being applied on a ladder electricity tariff. Therefore, the average electricity price of 1 kWh will depend on the amount of electricity consumers use in a month. And there is no fixed value for each month as well as for different electricity consumers.

So we can get the average price of 1,747 VND / kWh. Since then we calculate the price of a lightning is: 1,747,1400 = VND 2,445,800 (more than VND 2 million).

Why do people not use electricity from lightning?

Genius Nikola Tesla and many scientists have had many researches to harness energy from lightning. But it can be seen that the value of a lightning bolt is not small, but it is economically insignificant compared to other ways of producing electricity.

According to physicists Stephen Reucroft and John Swain of Northeastern University, one (only one ray in many rays on the same path) a lightning bolt containing several million joules is just enough for a 100 watt light bulb to shine for 5.5 hours. .

Difficulty in collecting energy from lightning.(Illustration.)

Meanwhile, we do not have any equipment that can withstand such a high temperature of lightning. In addition, lightning strikes are quite intermittent and it is difficult to convert a high voltage into a low voltage for a short period of time to be able to store. So compared to more stable and economical ways, the exploitation of this kind of natural energy is still impossible.