We just had a bad storm here the other day and lost a lot of beautiful trees -- they were struck by lightning. I often wondered about this and we have members here that I know could answer this question: Are there any benefits derived from lighting? Is it good for anything other than a cool light show sometimes? Thanks for your help.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kelleygirl,

One benefit, believe it or not, is forest fires.

Here is a fairly good page on the benefits of forest fires, and the challenges of balancing saftey with the necessity of fire. Doing a google search on something like forest fire benefits will give you more than you ever wanted to know on the subject.

Methos is so right...
The fires at Yellowstone were so devastating because the "tree huggers of America" were so strong in their demands not to have "controlled burns", that when lightning did strike the undergrowth just acted as extra fuel....
Lightning is natures way of keeping the forest cleaned up... It also promotes new growth....

Don, I agree that lightning is nature's way of promoting new growth and keeping the forest 'clean,' but I don't see that humans intentionally starting forest fires is part of nature's 'plan.' If we are to go along with nature, we should let nature decide when to set the forest ablaze, shouldn't we? Besides, the 'devastation" that is normally referred to in those fires is to homes that have been burned. A much simpler solution is to not build houses in forests. People who build in forests are similar to those who build on the slopes of hills, like the ones in California, and are then surprised to find out that gravity works.

Another positive side of lightning -

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Roy "Dooms" Sullivan has the dubious distinction of being the most lightning-struck person ever recorded. Between 1942 and his death in 1983, Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times. The first lightning strike shot through Sullivan's leg and knocked his big toenail off. In 1969, a second strike burned off his eyebrows and knocked him unconscious. Another strike just a year later, left his shoulder seared. In 1972 his hair was set on fire and Roy had to dump a bucket of water over his head to cool off. In 1973, another bolt ripped through his hat and hit him on the head, set his hair on fire again, threw him out of his truck and knocked his left shoe off. A sixth strike in 1976 left him with an injured ankle. The last lightning bolt to hit Roy Sullivan sent him to the hospital with chest and stomach burns in 1977.
Years ago, I read Roy's account of either the 72 or 73 account. He said he was driving and saw a thunderstorm approaching. Roy was quoted as saying, "I said to myself, 'Roy, this ain't no place for you to be' so I drove off." About 30 minutes later, Roy felt safe, and looked out the truck window to see just how far away the storm was. You got it - He was zapped on the head by a bolt, thus proving Darwin correct.

By the way, Roy was ...a park ranger.

My brother is currently working for the government in a program for finding a way to make clearing the underbrush ("woody biomass")economical - that is, to find a profitable use for the the underbrush (research is ongoing into everything from paper to ethanol-replacing fuels). From his viewpoint, environmental groups are, indeed, one of the stumbling blocks to this sort of research. Of course, those making a case that clearing the underbrush has different results from natural burning have a valid point.

DG makes an equally valid point. We don't control fires for the animals or the trees nearly as much as we do for those who have chosen to put their houses in the middle of or even on the borders of fire-prone forests.

Thanks, guys -- I hadn't thought of that. Hey, do you think that "they" will ever be able to harness lightning as an energy source if "they" could ever predict where it was going to strike?

A reply from Fermilab (Fermilab is a National Laboratory for high-energy physics).

As they say, the three problems are capturing such a large amount of energy in a short amount of time, puttign this energy into the power network without overloading it, and that it can't really be predicted exactly where and when it will hit.

Another idea I've heard is using the burst of energy to turn water into hydrogen and oxygen - then using the hydrogen for power.



Another benefit of lightning is that it converts nitrogen in the air into a form plants can use (fixing the nitrogen). Most of the nitrogen is converted in other ways, but this does contribute.