Lightning occurs when there's a flow of electric charge (mainly electrons) between a cloud and the ground. Assume that the rate of charge flow in a lightning bolt is about \(20~\mbox{kC/s}\) and that it lasts for \(100~\mu\mbox{s}\). How many electrons flow between the ground and the cloud in this time?
The charge of the electron is \(e=1.6 \times 10^{-19}~\mbox{C}\).
by
David Mattingly
