Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

The air around lightning can be five times hotter than the sun's surface

The rapid discharge of electricity—flowing electrons—between oppositely charged regions across a narrow filament can raise temperatures to 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit). If lightning strikes a tree, the speed of the temperature spike can almost immediately turn all its water into pressurized steam, causing it to explode.

Electrical discharge from stressed rocks may produce lightning

Although flashes of light in the sky likely result from storms or damaged transformers and power lines coinciding with geological events, some scientists theorize that fracto-luminescence, or earthquake lights, may be caused by discharged built-up static electricity.

Lightning results from the rapid flow of charges through the atmosphere

Lightning in storm clouds forms from the collisions between graupel—small hail particles—and smaller ice particles, which transfer electrons. Layers of opposing charges form as these differently sized particles rise and fall. When air can no longer insulate these layers, electricity discharges, equalizing these regions.

Atmospheric composition and temperature impact the color of lightning

Just as fire ranges from red to blue with increasing temperature, lightning's blueish-white comes from the superheating of air. The emission of light from the predominantly nitrogen- and oxygen-rich atmosphere produces a purple tint, with additional color caused by light scattering from humidity, hail, dust, and ash.

Lightning storms are more common in coastal and tropical regions

Water-abundant areas that receive increased solar radiation, such as those near the equator, experience increased rates of evaporation, which produce tall clouds as moisture rises, cools, and condenses. Mountain ranges can also steer air to higher altitudes, creating collisions between atmospheric particles that generate charge imbalances—the precursors to lightning.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

Understanding ball lightning remains an area of active research

Observations of glowing orbs of light that appear during or after thunderstorms have been documented since at least the 12th century, but their rarity and short lifetimes have made their study challenging. Some theories suggest they form when lightning vaporizes pockets of gases in the air or certain materials on the ground.

Cerulean eruptions result from sulfur being heated by molten rock

During eruptions, warm-colored lava at temperatures between 700 and 1,200 degrees Celsius (1,300 and 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit) burns minerals as they escape from underground reservoirs. In some volcanoes, such as Indonesia's Kawah Ijen and Ethiopia's Danakil Depression, abundant sulfur compounds that burn with blue flames appear to change the color of the melted rock.

Concentrated sound waves can collapse microscopic bubbles, creating light

The phenomenon, known as sonoluminescence, can generate extremely short, high-intensity flashes from the sudden focusing of sound energy, which can drive the temperature within the bubbles to values over twice that of the sun's surface.

Eruption forecasting relies on probabilistic methods resembling weather forecasting

While some volcanoes erupt with predictable signs, such as surface deformation from the build-up of underground magma pressure, others release magma at inconsistent rates. Extensive monitoring is needed to identify less clear patterns and indicators of future eruptions.

The first known instance of a fire tornado occurred in 2003

During pyro-tornadogenesis, many processes that create thunderstorms from wildfires, such as rising hot air and steam from evaporated water in forests, fuel the formation of a fire tornado. The increasing rates of wildfires due to climate change are expected to make this phenomenon and other extreme weather more common.

Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo is considered the lightning capital of the world

Spread across 140 to 160 nights, and as many as 10 hours per night, the region where the Catatumbo River flows into the semi-enclosed bay experiences approximately 1.6 million lightning strikes annually. The frequency of strikes may originate from warm Caribbean air interacting with cooler air from the Andes.

Fulgurites are glass sculptures made by lightning vaporizing sand

Sometimes referred to as fossilized lightning, these tube-like structures are formed when high-temperature electrical currents fuse mineral grains into crystals, which can feature branching patterns resembling filaments of current. Their name derives from "fulgur," the Latin word for lightning.

Extraterrestrial volcanoes spew material present during their formation

Unlike Earth's volcanoes that release lava, cryovolcanoes on distant moons erupt cold jets of water, ammonia, and other light gases present during the formation of their host planet. The movement of internal heat produced during formation is thought to drive icy plume movement.

Volcanic ash is composed of fragments of volcanic rock, minerals, and glass

These abrasive particles are hazardous to aircraft. They can melt within engines and re-solidify on turbine blades, preventing forward propulsion. If inhaled, chemicals within ash can be toxic, and the particles can embed themselves into the lungs' ducts, causing suffocation.

Cooling lava naturally creates hexagonal cracks to evenly relieve stress

When lava cools and turns into rock, it contracts and builds up tension, particularly when held in place by the surrounding landscape. Just as drying mud cracks, initial cracks in the rock are random, but quickly organize into a hexagonal pattern, which scientists consider the most space-efficient shape.

Explore a gallery of lightning photography taken from the Grand Canyon

In this series, award-winning photographer Adam Schallau accompanies each image with expert advice on how to capture the phenomenon successfully. Initially requiring the shutter to remain open for extended periods, today's technology includes a device called a lightning trigger, which senses incoming lightning and automatically manages the shutter.

Distinguishing between various solar surface phenomena, including solar flares and sunspots

Flares are sudden eruptions of electromagnetic radiation caused by a buildup of magnetic energy in the sun's atmosphere and often occur near sunspots, where strong magnetic fields limit the flow of hot material, creating these cooler regions. Flares can also be accompanied by coronal mass ejections—large explosions of plasma from the sun's upper atmosphere with their own magnetic fields.

Why do flash floods occur?

Flash flooding can be more dangerous than traditional floods, occurring within the span of hours and exhibiting rapid currents. Here's how atmospheric conditions and geography combine to make some locations ripe for the disaster.

Voids in the northern and southern lights are known as black auroras

Appearing as dark rings or blobs against the illuminated sky, black auroras occur when there are holes in Earth's ionosphere—the upper atmospheric layer of charged particles created by solar ultraviolet rays. In these gaps—also known as anti-auroras—electrons ascend up into space, rather than spiraling into the atmosphere to collide with atmospheric gases and produce light.

Explaining the Leidenfrost effect, where water can hover and move against gravity

Water droplets can glide across surfaces whose temperatures are well above water's boiling point. This heat instantly vaporizes the bottom of the droplet, creating a layer of steam that the rest of the droplet rides and bounces upon. This can be seen when sprinkling water on skillets to determine if the surface is hot enough to cook on.

View the 10 biggest volcanic eruptions in recorded history

The Mount Tambora eruption in 1815 was the deadliest and released so much sun-blocking ash and gas that 1816 became known as “the year without summer.” The resulting global food shortages are estimated to have killed over 71,000 people.

Some geothermal power plants make electricity using a secondary fluid

Direct dry-steam systems pull underground steam into a turbine-generator system, while flash and double-flash cycle systems spray extracted liquid water into a low-pressure tank, causing it to rapidly vaporize—"flash"—before moving to the turbine. Binary cycle systems use the extracted steam and water to flash a second fluid that easily boils, which then drives the turbine.

Mathematics proves turbulence's chaos creates super diffusion

Turbulent flow is responsible for the rapid scattering of dandelion seeds, volcanic ash, and untied balloons. Its swirling behavior accelerates particle scattering faster than other mixing methods, as particles acquire energy from the interactions of eddies.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

Movement of molten metal around its solid inner core creates Earth's magnetic field

According to the geodynamo process, the rotation of the planet and the looping, convective flow of electrically conductive iron and nickel produce dynamic electric currents, which generate a self-sustaining magnetic field. This is unlike natural, stationary magnets, which possess a static field created when the metal cooled and its atoms aligned with Earth's magnetic field.

Massive blooms of microscopic plankton called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Poison ivy's characteristic rash is caused by an allergic response to an oily compound in the plant called urushiol.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.