5 ms·

Russian researchers find more evidence that lightning is caused by cosmic rays

45 points by cwan 13y ago

fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
The atmosphere as a kind of spark chamber? http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/~lester/teaching/SparkChamber/SparkChamber.html http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/~lester/teaching/SparkChamber/S...
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- overshard 13y ago
  Cosmic ray is not a light ray... It's not talking about rays of sunlight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray
youngerdryas 13y ago
More like may seed some lightning.
losethos 13y ago
I asked God who should be model for Sisteen chapel. Ben Franklin. Kinda sorry I asked. I hate the Jews for asking His name. He said "I am", fuck yerself. God says... grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. 32:1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 32:2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. 32:3 Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 32:4 Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. 32:5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. ---- "wrath kindled" is cosmic ray RAM changes with rays Job
Zarathust 13y ago
I read this a few days ago on Reddit. The first thing I thought about was the Catatumbo lightning storm. There is constant lightning every single day or so in Venezuela. Then I reread the wiki page and there is a mention of a high uranium concentration in the area so it might be a source of gamma rays, but I really doubt it is sufficient to generate that much lightning, or such a phenomenon would be much more common. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning
- mpyne 13y ago
  Well if this article is talking about what I think it's talking about, we deal with something in radiation detection called "gas amplification" which occurs in the presence of a large electric potential. If they're saying that an incoming cosmic ray causes a ionization effect in what's literally a "cloud chamber", which gas amplifies into what we see as lightning it would actually make perfect sense to me. Given that the Catatumbo effects occur more than 5km in the air (where cosmic ray flux would be higher) the only other thing you'd need would be to ensure that the electric potential is continually re-established as the lightning dissipates it. Maybe that can be explained by the weather and geography in the area?
  - Zarathust 13y ago
    Since the earth rotates quite fast, I wonder what could be the source of such a constant and localized gamma ray radiation? The source would have to "track" the region for up to 10 hours, or given the circumference of the earth, around 17 000kms. Or maybe the constant radiation from space is enough and the region particularities make it happen.
    - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
      There is no way that a gamma ray source tracks us, more likely there is a lighter-than-air gas such as ethane, methane, etc. (which are used in spark chambers) escaping that lake, or somthging else to that effect, making conditions suitable for ionization.
- 13y ago
vxNsr 13y ago
This could be really cool, if we can figure out how to cheaply create this type of reaction and harness the energy released.
- adlpz 13y ago
  The energy comes from the Sun's heat through the massive water vapor movement in the atmosphere creating the highly charged clouds. The cosmic rays just trigger the release of this potentials. So, at the end of the day, just doing solar power is more efficient.

45 points by cwan 13y ago

The atmosphere as a kind of spark chamber? http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/~lester/teaching/SparkChamber/SparkChamber.html http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/~lester/teaching/SparkChamber/S...

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

overshard 13y ago
Cosmic ray is not a light ray... It's not talking about rays of sunlight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray

youngerdryas 13y ago

More like may seed some lightning.

losethos 13y ago

I asked God who should be model for Sisteen chapel. Ben Franklin. Kinda sorry I asked. I hate the Jews for asking His name. He said "I am", fuck yerself. God says... grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. 32:1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 32:2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. 32:3 Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 32:4 Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. 32:5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. ---- "wrath kindled" is cosmic ray RAM changes with rays Job

Zarathust 13y ago

I read this a few days ago on Reddit. The first thing I thought about was the Catatumbo lightning storm. There is constant lightning every single day or so in Venezuela. Then I reread the wiki page and there is a mention of a high uranium concentration in the area so it might be a source of gamma rays, but I really doubt it is sufficient to generate that much lightning, or such a phenomenon would be much more common. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning

mpyne 13y ago
Well if this article is talking about what I think it's talking about, we deal with something in radiation detection called "gas amplification" which occurs in the presence of a large electric potential. If they're saying that an incoming cosmic ray causes a ionization effect in what's literally a "cloud chamber", which gas amplifies into what we see as lightning it would actually make perfect sense to me. Given that the Catatumbo effects occur more than 5km in the air (where cosmic ray flux would be higher) the only other thing you'd need would be to ensure that the electric potential is continually re-established as the lightning dissipates it. Maybe that can be explained by the weather and geography in the area?
- Zarathust 13y ago
  Since the earth rotates quite fast, I wonder what could be the source of such a constant and localized gamma ray radiation? The source would have to "track" the region for up to 10 hours, or given the circumference of the earth, around 17 000kms. Or maybe the constant radiation from space is enough and the region particularities make it happen.
  - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
    There is no way that a gamma ray source tracks us, more likely there is a lighter-than-air gas such as ethane, methane, etc. (which are used in spark chambers) escaping that lake, or somthging else to that effect, making conditions suitable for ionization.
13y ago

vxNsr 13y ago

This could be really cool, if we can figure out how to cheaply create this type of reaction and harness the energy released.

adlpz 13y ago
The energy comes from the Sun's heat through the massive water vapor movement in the atmosphere creating the highly charged clouds. The cosmic rays just trigger the release of this potentials. So, at the end of the day, just doing solar power is more efficient.