Re: Radio Frequency of Lightning?

[Laurie Taylor <laurie-taylor@uiowa.edu>]

One website to try is "www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/mcgreevy" regarding listening in with ham radios.  

Also, very simply an AM radio makes an excellent lightning detector. During a thunderstorm you can listen in on individual lightning bolts on your AM radio. Tune the radio to a station and each crackling soundthat you hear is from the radio waves emitted by a lightning bolt. You will notice that you hear the static crackle at the same moment you see a flash of lightning. This is because radio waves andvisible light both travel at the speed of light. The sound of thunder travels at the speed of sound (about 1,000 feet per second) and thus lags behind the flash of light (or AM crackle)*. You will
notice that there will be some lightning bolts that you detect that are not seen. These are lightning bolts that are high up in the thunderstorm cloud or even in another thunderstorm cell. 

Happy Listening!
Laurie Taylor
laurie-taylor@uiowa.edu






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