And that snow can cause that light to bend in ways that really no other gases can. Another reason why people have seen pink or green lightning before is because it often gets bent by, really specifically, snow in the air. The same thing with lightning, even a couple feet of air can take away some of the colors and affect its appearance.īECCA: Yeah, absolutely, it can definitely change the way that that light is hitting our eyes, it can bend it in a way that we end up getting different colors. Some of the light colors get separated out so that sunset sun looks more red. The sun looks like a different color because the sunlight has to go through more air. But further away in the audience, it appears a little bit more purple because that light has gone through more air to get to your eyes.ĮRIC: Yeah, so it's the same as looking at a sunset. But when we are in the cage during the presentation in our Theater of Electricity, the lightning appears white because we're actually right next to it. I know Eric, you probably have experienced this too. The closer you are to the lightning, the less air has to go through and often will appear more white if you're really close. Since light moves through air, the further you are away, the more air it has to go through. But it also has to do a lot with kind of how close you are to the lightning. And that's one of the questions that we get all the time. So having a little bit less moisture in the air inside will cause our lightning to be so specifically consistent in that it's always kind of purple. So our air is more controlled than in a storm.īECCA: Yeah, we definitely control our humidity quite a bit. It's just smaller, and it's going through air. And our indoor lighting is the same thing as a lightning bolt outside in a storm. it really depends on what the air is made of, and what's in the air. The average across the Earth's atmosphere is like 70% nitrogen, 20-something percent oxygen, but there's carbon dioxide, there's argon, there's a bunch of other gases, there can be more of some in certain places, there can be moisture in the air, there can be dust in the air. And so having lightning kind of going through this one spot of air may have it look a little bit different, just depending on what's going on.ĮRIC: Yeah, there's no such thing as pure air because air is a mixture of gases. And depending on where you are, that may be different. And one of those conditions is what is in the air because air is made up of different things, different elements, pieces of dust or moisture in the air. And the color of that light depends on the air, really.īECCA: Yeah, there are so many factors that really go into what produces a certain color of lightning. What we're seeing is light from superheated air. So we explained that in the show: what lighting is. Of course, it can be a little bit different depending on the conditions.ĮRIC: Yes. And so it is really cool that it creates this amazing light, this flash that we see. Up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, maybe even more. And in doing so they end up heating the air where these charges get put back together to pretty extreme temperatures. So lightning essentially is just when charges get separated and come back together. So let's just start with what lightning actually is.īECCA: Sure. Honestly, sometimes that's the most satisfying when you can be like: that's the biggest animal. And it's not like other questions where we have a simple answer. And it's one that there isn't a really good clear cut answer to, but I still love to talk about it.ĮRIC: Yeah, there's a whole lot going on. Because by researching the answer, I learned a ton.īECCA: Yes, this question is one that we get all the time. Becca, thanks for joining me.ĮRIC: So the first time I got this question, I had some guesses. One of the most common we get after a show is: why is your lightning purple? Joining me to dig into this question is a fellow zapper, Becca from our education team. It has the world's largest Van de Graaff generator, musical Tesla coils, and it inspires some great questions. And one of my favorite things about my job is presenting a lightning show in our Thomson Theater of Electricity. ERIC: From the Museum of Science in Boston, this is Pulsar, a podcast where we answer our favorite visitor questions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |