What temperature can a bolt of lightning reach?
A leader of a bolt of lightning can travel at speeds pf 60,000 meters per second (13,670 miles per hour), and can reach a temperature approaching 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Fahrenheit), hot enough to convert silica into glass. Large bolts of negative lightning from the clouds carry an electric current of up to 100,000 amps. Lightning rapidly heats the air in its immediate vicinity to about 20,000 degrees Celsius (36,000 degrees Fahrenheit), about three times the temperature of the surface of the sun. This compresses the surrounding air and creates an acoustic wave that is heard as thunder.
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5 Comments
John W Shreve
You can say that about many records. Nolan Ryan broke the Major League Baseball record for pitching strikeouts when he recorded the 3,509th strikeout of his career. He finished his career with 5,714 strikeouts, having broken the record (his own) more than two thousand times.
Alan Waites
or more specificallyWhereas a lightning bolt can reach a temperature of 53,540 degrees Fahrenheit or 30,000 Kelvin, which is 5 times hotter than the Sun!
Lightning is 5 times hotter than the sun. - Mind Blowing Facts
www.mindblowing-facts.org/2013/01/lightning-is-5-times-hotter-than-the-sun/,
Alan Waites
Frank Cowell, i see your logic but the bolt wouldn't be lightning as 3, 5, or 10,000 degrees wouldn't be strong enough.
Frank Cowell
If it can reach 30,000 degrees then, presumably, it can also reach 3,000, 5,000, 10,000 degrees. All answers correct?
Richard G Schwartz
Thank you Majority vote.