Science Trending: New views of storms on Jupiter indicate that the speed of lightning on Jupiter is similar to the speed of lightning on our Earth. Ivana Kolmasova says that the rays of lightning seem to move on both the planets like a winding traveler climbing a mountain. Like a traveler stopping to catch his breath after each step, the lightning on both Earth and Jupiter seems to build up with “one step, another step, then a third step”.
Kolmasova is an atmospheric physicist at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. His team shared the new findings on May 23 in Nature Communications. This discovery about electricity on Jupiter can also help in the search for life on other planets. Because such an experiment indicates that the way some chemical elements can be prepared for life due to lightning on the earth, similarly if electricity works in a similar way on other planets, then it can become the basis for the creation of life on distant planets as well.
Winds inside thunder clouds on our earth cause lightning. Winds cause many ice crystals and water droplets to rub together. Due to which small pieces of ice and water become electrically charged. Bits with opposite charges move in opposite directions of the clouds, creating a charge at both ends. When the charge becomes large enough then electrons are released. Electrons rip electrons from molecules in new sections of air, causing the lightning bolt to move at an average speed of thousands of meters per second. By the way, according to scientists, Jupiter’s lightning can also be made by the collision of ice crystals and drops of water.
