Here we report observations of a relatively unknown type of discharge, called fast positive breakdown, that is the cause of high-power discharges known as narrow bipolar events. The breakdown is found to have a wide range of strengths and is the initiating event of numerous lightning discharges...
forbidding slopes that offer at least 45-degree descents. The run is often a "make it up as you go" course of previously untouched powder. Skiers must make lightning-fast decisions throughout the run, lest they careen into a tree, a rock or off the side of the mountain ...
Some scientists speculate magnetite becomes magnetic when struck by lightning. Others theorize that pieces of magnetite became magnets when Earth was first formed. The domains aligned with Earth's magnetic field while iron oxide was molten and flexible. The most common method of making magnets today...
a curious duality ensues: We take electricity for granted one second and gawk at its power the next. More than two and a half centuries have passed sinceBenjamin Franklinand others proved lightning was a form of electricity, but it's still hard not to flinch when...
Almost 99 percent of all matter in the universe is plasma. It's not common on Earth because of its extremely high temperatures; but somewhere like the sun, it's the norm. On Earth, you find it in lightning, among other places. Plasma cutters are not the only devices to harness the po...
Almost 99 percent of all matter in the universe is plasma. It's not common on Earth because of its extremely high temperatures; but somewhere like the sun, it's the norm. On Earth, you find it in lightning, among other places. Plasma cutters are not the only devices to harness the po...
giant sparks fly from the sky to the ground. A bolt of lightning is a hugeelectric current(flow of electricity) moving through the air—in other words, it is what we might refer to as "electrical kinetic energy". We can also think of sound, heat, and light as examples of kinetic ener...
That's the trick that allows lightning-fast gear changes and keeps power delivery constant. A standard manual transmission can't do this because it must use one clutch for all odd and even gears. Multi-plate Clutches Because a dual-clutch transmission is similar to an automatic, you might ...
In practice, the efficiency of an inverter is often over 90 percent, though basic physics tells us some energy—however little—is always being wasted somewhere!Photo: A selection of electricity inverters that can be used with renewable energy generating equipment, such as solar cells and micro-...
Some scientists speculate magnetite becomes magnetic when struck by lightning. Others theorize that pieces of magnetite became magnets when Earth was first formed. The domains aligned with Earth's magnetic field while iron oxide was molten and flexible. The most common method of making magnets today...