What causes lightning?

A huge discharge of static electricity in storm clouds

What does a lightning rod do?

Safely guides lightning into the ground

What are red sprites?

Flashes high above thunderstorms

The Lightning Quiz – Facts Worth Knowing

Take the lightning quiz to learn how charges build up in storm clouds, cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud strikes, lightning's heat, Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment, lightning rods, sprites and safety tips. Ten questions with facts worth knowing about electrical storms.

Start the Lightning Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Cause
What causes lightning?
Heat
About how hot can a lightning bolt be?
Frequency
About how many times does lightning strike Earth per second?
Franklin
Who showed in 1752 that lightning is electricity?
Rod
What does a lightning rod do?
Most
Which type of lightning is most common?
Twice
Can lightning strike the same place twice?
Sprites
What are red sprites?
Glass
What forms when lightning strikes sand?
Survivor
Which US park ranger survived seven lightning strikes?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What causes lightning?
Answer: A huge discharge of static electricity in storm clouds
Ice and water collisions separate charges.
Q2: About how hot can a lightning bolt be?
Answer: About 30,000 °C
Hotter than the Sun's surface.
Q3: About how many times does lightning strike Earth per second?
Answer: About 40 to 50
That is over a billion flashes a year.
Q4: Who showed in 1752 that lightning is electricity?
Answer: Benjamin Franklin
He used a kite and key.
Q5: What does a lightning rod do?
Answer: Safely guides lightning into the ground
Franklin invented it.
Q6: Which type of lightning is most common?
Answer: Within clouds
Most never reach the ground.
Q7: Can lightning strike the same place twice?
Answer: Yes, often
The Empire State Building is hit about 20 times a year.
Q8: What are red sprites?
Answer: Flashes high above thunderstorms
They are rarely seen by eye.
Q9: What forms when lightning strikes sand?
Answer: Fulgurites
They are tubes of glassy sand.
Q10: Which US park ranger survived seven lightning strikes?
Answer: Roy Sullivan
He is in Guinness World Records.

The Lightning Quiz – Bolts From the Sky

Lightning is a giant electrical spark. In storm clouds, colliding ice particles separate charges, building enormous voltages. When the difference becomes too great, electricity jumps within the cloud, between clouds or to the ground.

A lightning bolt heats air to about 30,000 °C, five times hotter than the Sun's surface, causing the explosive expansion we hear as thunder. Earth experiences about 40 to 50 lightning flashes every second.

Benjamin Franklin proved lightning was electrical and invented the lightning rod, which protects buildings. People can stay safe by going indoors during storms and avoiding open ground, water and tall isolated objects.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz is for students and weather fans exploring lightning.

What causes lightning
How hot it gets
Who proved it was electricity
What lightning rods do
Whether lightning strikes twice

Did You Know?

Volcanic eruptions can create lightning.
Lightning makes nitrogen compounds that fertilize soil.
Planes are designed to withstand strikes.
Lightning occurs on Jupiter.
A record flash stretched 829 km across the US in 2017.