Your body is shaking
and you're feeling nauseous.
There's a sharp pain in your chest,
and with each passing moment,
it gets harder and harder to breathe.
And even harder to stop crying!
Don't worry, it's not a heart attack.
You're just experiencing a bout of
And while you might be able to
keep your cool in a storm,
lightning is undeniably
a force to be reckoned with.
A single bolt of lightning can have
up to 1 billion volts of electricity.
That's more than enough power
to start massive fires,
destroy homes,
and take lives.
As many as 24,000 people die
from lightning strikes each year.
But if lightning storms raged 24/7,
the number of deaths would get a lot higher.
If you want to escape
a lifetime of thunder and lightning,
you should consider moving to Egypt,
or the Patagonia region of South America,
or Antarctica.
Those are the three places
that are virtually untouched
by the 8 million bolts of lightning
that hit Earth each day.
As for the rest of the world,
a never-ending lightning storm
would force us to rethink our priorities.
Wildfires would pose a constant threat,
and we'd likely be fighting several at once,
the whole year 'round!
We'd need to devote more resources
to combating these wildfires,
not only to protect ourselves,
but to preserve wildlife,
ecosystems,
and valuable natural resources.
We'd also have to update
the way we build buildings.
How could anyone learn,
or get any work done,
with the constant sound of
thunder booming in their ears?
We'd need to make soundproof walls
and windows to block out the harsh noise.
We'd also put lightning rods
at the top of every building.
And at the bottom,
hopefully something better than sandbags.
Thunderstorms are almost always
accompanied by
rain, snow, or hail.
So if lightning storms never stopped,
constant flooding would be a huge issue.
And even below ground,
never-ending lightning storms
would require a complete upheaval
of our plumbing systems.
You might already know that lightning
tends to hit the tallest object in the area,
but its charge can travel in all directions.
So when lightning strikes a house,
it can send an electrical charge
all the way down to its metal plumbing pipes.
To prevent this risk,
we'd be better off switching to
PVC pipes for plumbing,
which don't conduct electricity.
While never-ending lightning storms
would be very inconvenient,
and incredibly dangerous,
"Why won't it stop?"
there's a secret benefit to lightning
that we don't usually think about.
which is an essential gas in our atmosphere
that protects the Earth
from the Sun's harmful UV rays.
Bursts of lightning trigger chemical reactions
that release nitrogen-oxygen compounds.
These compounds react
with the oxygen in our atmosphere
to create ozone,
which shields us from solar radiation.
So while lightning can be loud and scary,
keep in mind that it's also
working to protect you.
We'll never live in a world where
lightning storms never stop,
but with climate change on the rise,
we might expect to see more lightning storms.
If that's true, by the turn of the century,
the U.S. could see a 50% increase
in lightning strikes.
Then again, a newer study suggests that
warming temperatures will actually
reduce the number of lightning storms by 15%
by the turn of the century.
But whether we get more or less,
and whether you hate it or love it,
the world needs lightning.
And who says we couldn't use
a little spark every now and then too?
But if you want to see something
that's even more shocking,
think about what would happen
if a massive solar storm hit Earth!
Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.