Charging up a battery requires a lot of _energy_. Lightning doesn't have much energy. Exploding something requires a lot of _power_. Lightning is very, very hi

Charging up a battery requires a lot of _energy_. Lightning doesn't have much energy. Exploding something requires a lot of _power_. Lightning is very, very high power. -------- So a dam collapsing demonstrates energy vs power, for example. The floodwaters race across the land slowly, having a small amount of power. But the floodwaters move for hours-and-hours, days and days, maybe a week or longer. That's energy, the ability to move for a long-long time. Lightning is the opposite. Its an explosive amount of power, but it only lasts for a fraction of a second. Its so short that there's barely any energy involved. A power-plant (and a battery) needs both. Which is where things get tricky.