What is lightning?
Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist. And I'm not. And welcome to Chemistry For Your Life.
Jam:The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Okay. So today's episode is in response, I mentioned it last time, to a request from Samwise on Instagram. She asked us if there is any chemistry to lightning.
Jam:And we told her, no. Sorry. No chemistry.
Melissa:We told her even if there was, we hate chemistry.
Jam:Yeah. We you could not pay us to talk about chemistry.
Melissa:You could actually though if you wanted to. You can go to kodashfi. I'm just kidding. Okay. So we're gonna talk All about the chemistry of lightning, and, of course, there is so much chemistry in lightning.
Melissa:You wanna know why?
Jam:Yeah. I guess I do.
Melissa:It's because lightning is essentially a discharge of electricity. And do you know what electricity is?
Jam:Is it chemistry?
Melissa:It's a flow of electric charge, which comes from
Jam:Chemistry. Electronics.
Melissa:Excuse me. Chemistry. Electrons. Well, I do have
Jam:Which we actually talked about in the batteries episode.
Melissa:Yes. And I do have written here, Electricity is a flow of electric charge, and charge comes from chemistry. So, technically, you you said exactly what I written.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:But I said gaining or losing electrons is what makes things charged.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So all comes from the movement of electrical charge, which is the movement of electrons essentially. K. And in case you can't remember which one is negative or positive, I always remember the joke my cousin Sarah told me in the 10th grade, which was, And Adam runs into a bar and says, I think I lost an electron. And the bartender says, are you positive? That's how I remember.
Melissa:If you lose electrons, you're positive. If you gain electrons, you're Negative.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So lightning is just a big electrical charge that happens in nature, and it's all about the flow of electrons.
Jam:K.
Melissa:But, obviously, it's a little bit more complicated as to why charge even kind of happens in nature.
Jam:Right. Right. Why is there so much Charge up there in the sky.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And why is it in the 1st place, and then why did what makes it come out?
Melissa:Right. Those those are all great questions. That's what we're gonna talk about today. Oh, good. But also though, I will say this gets into kind of a place again where the science is gray.
Melissa:So there is some understanding of what causes the charge to happen and why it discharges, but there's not a very clear understanding on the deeper level.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:So and I saw a few different papers cited, so we'll talk all about that.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So 2 weeks ago, when we talked about clouds, We talked about how clouds are a bunch of suspended water droplets in the air. Mhmm. Well, sometimes it's so cold up at that part of the atmosphere that there's actually Frozen water as well. We didn't talk extensively about that.
Jam:K.
Melissa:But there is sometimes frozen water in the clouds because it's really cold up there. Mhmm. And ice is less dense than water
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Which means it will kind of rise to the top of the cloud, and then the heavier actual water will go to the bottom. K. And as they're moving, as they're jostling around to get from the bottom to the top and vice versa, they'll bump into each other and electrons are transferred.
Jam:K.
Melissa:And typically, the solid ice, which is more crystalline and more light, will go up to the top, and it's going to lose electrons and become positively charged.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And the water droplets On the bottom, the heavier ones are going to be gaining the electrons that the ice loses, and those are going to be more negative.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:What I couldn't find was why that happened.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:So I looked and looked, And I'm hoping I reached out to that meteorologist. He reached back out to me. Hopefully, we'll be able to connect with him.
Jam:K.
Melissa:I'm hoping he will be able to clarify that, but I think from the papers I found, it's not incredibly clear. I found one that suggested it was from, like, equilibrium, but it was in a preprint, which means it's not It wasn't peer reviewed and accepted. So I don't know if it ever even became peer reviewed and accepted.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:There is a lot of laboratory data though that suggest that when the ice crystal sort of collide with the water, there is this precipitation charging. And that's why we know that it happens, but we don't I don't think there's a clear answer as to why that charge transfer happens when they collide. And that's kind of as far as I could get into it. I could not elucidate it anymore. Interesting.
Melissa:I know, and kind of annoying.
Jam:Yeah. I guess, in some sense, like, I could see the difficulty. I can sympathize with the people trying to study this stuff and be like, okay.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:The clouds are way up there.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And we can't quite get inside them and tinker around.
Melissa:Well, I do think they Tried to I think there was a lab that recreated these conditions and observed it.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:A lot of this work came from this, A person named doctor Clive Saunders
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:He actually wrote the Encyclopedia of Weathering and Climate Change, and he did a lot of research. And my understanding was that he created the conditions in his lab to observe the charge transfer happening. Mhmm. But I don't think He could do the why. I don't think he ever came on the why.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:That was that was the thing that I couldn't get to. It Yeah. It seemed as if There was a clear this does happen Mhmm. And it seems to happen at this moment when these particles collide, but I could not find a why. It made me really Sad.
Melissa:Yeah. I really wanted that answer. It feels a little unsatisfied. But sometimes that's what it is to do research. It's like we are coming in at the Unfinished answer.
Melissa:Right? Right. And we've seen that a lot in chemistry for your life, but this one was very unsatisfying. I really wanted the why. Okay.
Melissa:So But we do know that it's happening. Right? So these clouds are having particles within them bounce off of each other, and it seems that typically the lighter, More snow like particles are losing the electrons, and they're floating to the top. And the more water heavier ones are gaining electrons, and they're falling to the bottom of the cloud. And that means that we have an excess of electrons at the bottom of the cloud and an absence of electrons at the top of the cloud.
Jam:Got it. Got it.
Melissa:So there is a big differential. There's an uneven spread of the electrons. There's a ton in one area and not enough at the other side.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So, essentially, now you can imagine that this cloud has a negative charge at the bottom. So in your mind, have A little cloud that's negative on the bottom and a positive on the top. Mhmm. And that's that's not going To fly. Mhmm.
Jam:Not in my house.
Melissa:Not in nature. Nature hates it when there's a big uneven thing, and it will do whatever it can to sort of even it out has been my experience.
Jam:Right. Nature is one strict mama.
Melissa:Yes. And so the mismatch is going to correct itself. And when that happens, we have lightning. And normally, that happens within the cloud itself.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So think about lightning that you see that seems like sort of flashes up in the air and it doesn't come down to the ground.
Jam:Yes. Yes.
Melissa:That's clouds within themselves or with the cloud next to them correcting the charge mismatch.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So the Charge separate starts to happen. There's a negative at the bottom. There's a positive at the top. They'll find a way to connect to each other, create a channel of and boom. Big flash of light, and that's the you're literally watching a row of electrons go back to where they want to go and even the charge back out in the cloud.
Jam:Got it. So we see clouds obviously, we often see clouds that are not doing this.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Yeah. Does that mean that the process is still happening and they The difference of the 1 part of the cloud having too many electrons, 1 part of the cloud having too few Has not gotten significant enough yet? Like
Melissa:Yeah. Probably. As thunderstorms are building, you mean?
Jam:Yes. So basically Yeah. Like, we see clouds all the time, The even big ones, but they're fine. They're not trying to correct their
Melissa:Yes. And I think, although I don't know for sure, I think it has to be just the right conditions to where you do get that ice. They sometimes call it graup grapple, like, g r a u p e l. Uh-huh. But where you get the ice colliding with the water, and I think you have to have, like, a certain, maybe height or it has to be at a certain part part of the atmosphere to where you get that sort of
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:That all those conditions. I think a lot of times what we see is clouds that are really small, that are floating around or you know? But it just hasn't gotten to the proper height or hasn't gotten to the proper wherever the atmosphere gets cold enough for there to be ice water colliding. You know? I I don't know all about the I'm not a meteorology expert.
Jam:Condition has to be right for the ice to be forming and for the Charge to start kinda happening and stuff?
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Okay. Got it.
Melissa:So if we're not seeing lightning, that means that we're probably not seeing Clouds that have a strong differential electrons.
Jam:K.
Melissa:Okay. But sometimes, What will happen is all the negative charge in the cloud will descend from the bottom of the cloud to the earth. And I'm actually gonna quote the National Weather Service because they have a really good explanation. It's linked in our references, and there's a really good picture that goes with it To explain kind of how this happens.
Jam:K.
Melissa:So you have this negative charge at the bottom of the cloud, and a channel of negative charge called a stepped ladder starts to descend from the bottom of the storm towards the ground. Mhmm. And we can't see that. Right? But it starts to shoot to the ground in a series of rapid steps, and each of those occur in less time than it takes you to blink your eye.
Melissa:And as the negative leader approaches the ground, positive charges begin to collect in the ground. So it's like negative electrons are moving towards the ground in a channel, and that strong negative force is bringing positive. Well, I guess bringing positive towards it isn't exactly right. It's pushing away other electrons. They're repelling each other, meaning that a positive charge are just forming right there on the ground.
Melissa:Uh-huh. And as a that was a sidebar. I'll go back to my quote now. As the negative leader approaches the ground, positive charge Collects right there in the ground and in objects on the ground. And when this positive charge sort of starts to form, it'll reach out to the approaching negative charge with its own channel called the streamer.
Melissa:So sidebar again, essentially, Negative charges are starting to come down from the cloud, causing almost an induced positive charge to then be pulled up from the ground. So the negative charge reaching down is the stepped ladder, and the positive charge reaching up is called a streamer. Mhmm. And when the stepped ladder Hits the streamer. That's lightning.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So I'll read back into their quote. When these channels connect, the resulting electrical transfer is what we see as cloud to ground lightning. After the initial lightning stroke, if enough charge is left over, additional lightning strokes will use the same channel and give the bolt a flickering So the initial channel forming is invisible. But as soon as those 2 channels connect, That's when we see lightning, and then that same channel may be used multiple times, and that's when we get the flicker of lightning.
Jam:Got it. Got it.
Melissa:And that's lightning.
Jam:Woah. That is so weird. I mean, 1, the invisible aspect of that is weird and trippy.
Melissa:Yeah. And also scary because you You could be the positive thing. If you're about to get struck by lightning
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Positive charges could be collecting in your body.
Jam:Right. Right. Right. Dang. That is so strange.
Jam:It also, in a way, feels a lot More understandable even there's still so many mysteries to
Melissa:that. Right.
Jam:It's like we most of us will often think of like, oh, yeah. These things that are natural, But that can cause disasters of some kind, can cause fires or can injure injure people or whatever. They seem so random or whatever. I was like, well, it's it is and it isn't. I mean, it's like Right.
Jam:This thing is charging up. It's gonna Hit something. It's gonna get something. It's gotta balance out somehow.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And it just
Melissa:either balance out with itself at the other part of the cloud, or it can come to the ground. Yeah. And I assume it just depends on the conditions of which one's easier Yeah. For the electrons to get to.
Jam:Yes. Yes. It's almost like So I thought this is somewhat relatable for most of us. It's almost like if somebody was staying in front of you and had a rubber band
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And they are pulling it, pulling it, pulling it, pulling it, pulling it, pulling it back. You know? Eventually, the air band is going to snap in some way and go back to the what it wants to be.
Melissa:Right? Yes.
Jam:We'll go back to some sort of equilibrium or whatever. Yes. When it breaks though, it could go any number of directions. You could fly at you Yep. And hit you in the face.
Jam:Yep. Fly back at the person who's stretching it, hit them in the face, go some other random direction.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:But the more and more that Tension is growing. Mhmm. It's like you've got a a a thing that's going to snap
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:In some way. And it's just a matter of time
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Or whatever.
Melissa:And I think another thing that's interesting if you think about it is what you're with lightning is literally electrons moving. I mean, you don't see the initial channel, but you're seeing all the energy that forms from that rapid movement of electrons.
Jam:So because of that movement, it goes into, like, a visible range of
Melissa:It's I think it's the energy that's invisible. Yeah.
Jam:Is energy is the is it a visible range of light for us?
Melissa:Mhmm. The energy that's comes from
Jam:the movement of the electrons. Wow. That is so weird.
Melissa:So weird.
Jam:We're, like, just seeing energy.
Melissa:You're just seeing energy, and you're seeing electrons move around kind of. Yeah. That is Weird. Right?
Jam:So weird.
Melissa:And also amazing. Yeah. And the idea of it when it's reaching out to the ground, it's It's so many analogies kind of at once, but it's almost like a magnet where, you know, when you push a negative magnet towards another negative, it'll repel it. So you're Repelling the negative charges away in the ground Mhmm. To make a positive concentration.
Melissa:And then that positive concentration is like, wait. Want a negative. So then it it reminds me of, like, Sistine Chapel. Is it Sistine Chapel with Yep. The touch?
Melissa:Is it Michelangelo's Mhmm. Painting? Yes. So then it kinda reminds me of that where it's like, okay. So the negative charges is he touching God's hand?
Melissa:Is that what that is? Okay. So the negative charge is God's hand, and then is it Adam?
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:And they're coming together, and then, like, when they touch, the light happens. Yes. Right? So that's Kind of what we're actually seeing happen is but God's finger and Adam's finger are invisible. Yeah.
Melissa:And then the light is the only thing that we See,
Jam:actually, painting. That's interesting. I have seen that painting, by the way, in real life. I've been to the Vatican.
Melissa:Where is that? In the Vatican? Okay. Yeah.
Jam:And you can't take pictures of it. That's one thing that, you'll find out fast. It's also crazy how much more of that painting there is. That's obviously the focal point. Right.
Jam:But there's all this other stuff, and it's actually kinda small. Then you kinda, like, look around, like,
Melissa:wait.
Jam:Where are they again? Like, I thought I thought it'd be massive because all the pictures I have seen, they're, like, super doing on that.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:But, Anyway, that's a great I love that. I love that visual picture of God and Adam touching. And it's such an iconic. Everybody knows it.
Melissa:You know? Everybody knows that. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.
Melissa:So that is lightning. You're you're watching electrons transfer that charge to neutralize out the positive and negative buildup.
Jam:Mhmm. Dang.
Melissa:And I did read some about, and I didn't quite understand this, so I didn't wanna go too in-depth. But also it helps to Neutralize any differentials in the atmosphere. Like, it helps regulate that are strong to help regulate our atmosphere if there's any charges that aren't That shouldn't be there.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:I know. I was like, what? And then I didn't have time
Jam:to finish. Because of the lightning.
Melissa:Yeah. I think so. Yeah.
Jam:Is basically correcting the differential in the cloud. It also but at the same time, just
Melissa:I would think if there's, like, a Positive pocket or a negative pocket. The electrons that have built up in the cloud can help fix that. Mhmm. But I didn't know where that came from, and I one line about it and couldn't really find anything else, and then I left it alone.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:I know. But it looks like it thunderstorms might have some regulatory effect as well.
Jam:Thing.
Melissa:Weird.
Jam:That is so strange.
Melissa:Well, you kind of already gave me a explain it back.
Jam:I did. What maybe I'll just Run the basic chemistry back by you to make sure I get it.
Melissa:Yeah. Yeah. Do that.
Jam:Rubber man analogy kinda works, but not, like, fully. And so let me just make sure I don't not misunderstanding something. But
Melissa:And I'll enjoy this coffee you made me while you do that.
Jam:Yes. Yes. So we have Clouds that, in the certain conditions, start having Ice form in them. Mhmm. Very tiny ice crystals.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And because ice once water becomes ice, it's actually a little bit less dense Then when it's in liquid form Mhmm. The ice crystals want to slowly move their way up to the top of the cloud Yes. Because it was dense, and the water wants to move its way down to the bottom of the cloud. And to that process, Somehow, they are bumping into each other and Mhmm. And all this stuff.
Jam:This massive cloud is happening. This massive scale. All kinds of electrons from the ice start being somehow Taken by the water.
Melissa:Yeah. And I would imagine it'd be sort of a 1 to 1 ratio, although I don't know. But in my mind, I was imagining, Like, a water molecule hits an ice molecule or a collection of them, and it takes an electron and then the the water takes an electron, and then it starts to move on its
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:And it might hit a lot of other things and then gain an electron, lose an electron, get you know, it might just go be going back and forth, back and forth, but it happens on a large enough scale to where there's a net gain and loss.
Jam:Yes. And that reminds me of what you said in the episode about Clouds Mhmm. Existing in the 1st place is how much water is in them. Like Yes. This millions of pounds or whatever.
Jam:I can't remember
Melissa:what that It was a it was a huge number. Yeah. I just relistened for edits, and I don't remember.
Jam:Yeah. But just so that's the scale we're talking about. It's massive.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:So even if it would seem like, oh, it's a small thing. It's happening to tons of water molecules, tons of ice crystals Yes. Across this massive thing floating in the air. Mhmm. And then eventually, it gets really bad.
Jam:The bottom of the cloud, the bottom half where the water's kinda hanging out is Very, very negative. It has
Melissa:Lots of electrons.
Jam:Way more than it should have in an at in a normal situation.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And the ice at the top is lacking a lot of life turns that it should have. Mhmm. It is very positive and in a way that would not normally occur and should not be.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And nature wants to balance the scales. And things getting that out of whack when they get back to being balanced, they Balance the bang and crash.
Melissa:Yes. That's right. And we're actually gonna talk about that also again in 2 weeks when it comes to wind. Oh. Nature's, I don't know if I can always say nature's trying to balance, but a lot of times in chemistry, things are trying to even themselves up is what a pattern I've noticed.
Jam:Interesting. True true justice. You know? Just of of nature is a blind Justice. Okay.
Jam:So
Melissa:What's the thing the thing where everything's equally shared? Socialism?
Jam:Yeah. Or commune I can't remember which one, but socialism or communism. Once the
Melissa:Nature's trying to share all the resources equally. Right. Right. Yeah.
Jam:At the molecular level.
Melissa:At the molecular level. Right. In other ways, it's not. But at the molecular level, electrons are trying to get to even environments.
Jam:Yes. Yes. Unfortunately, nature does not care about us having Equal things with each other.
Melissa:That's true. For better
Jam:or for worse, whatever.
Melissa:And human nature is a whole other thing. Yeah. Yeah.
Jam:So that's happening. Happening that needs to correct itself. Sometimes it just corrects itself within the cloud. There's a jump of lots of electrons moving Back to this very positive part of the cloud that is lacking tons of electrons. Mhmm.
Jam:That just goes and we see the as electrons are moving, The do we see we're seeing the energy of them moving.
Melissa:Mhmm. The Flashlight.
Jam:And that is just inter whatever you wanna call it. Intercloud Lightning something.
Melissa:I think there's a name for it, but I didn't write it down.
Jam:And then so we see that sometimes. You know, we see those little flashes. Sometimes it's kind of, like, diffused and hidden behind
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Clouds. We also see and worry about the lightning that comes down here.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And in some situations, instead of correcting within the cloud itself, It finds it sees fit too. For whatever reason. To correct the imbalance of electrons by using The earth instead
Melissa:Mhmm. Or
Jam:whatever it can find close by.
Melissa:Electrical ground, they call it. Right.
Jam:As a ground. And so it starts reaching down toward
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:The earth. Now just doing that repels lots of electrons away because it is so heavy
Melissa:So negative.
Jam:Electrons. Very, very negative. And so by as it reaches down, then there becomes this very positive area that also reaches up
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:To meet it, which is interesting. Got an atom. Touching fingers. And then boom. Now there's a highway for these electrons to move, and then we start seeing the energy.
Jam:Yes. That's because the equipment's actually able to to move. The the floodgate has been opened. Yep. And they can go freely.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And because of that, it also happens the opposite way too where it can be like a down, then an up, and then a down or something. We see some flickers of Various
Melissa:I think it's mostly down. It's just this, like, oh, these electrons in this part of the cloud found a channel, and then more use that same channel, and more use that same channel, I think. Okay. But it also while it's negative electrons moving also equal out the positive in the other place. Right?
Melissa:So it kind of evens out.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:That's a good one.
Jam:And there it is lightning.
Melissa:I try to think of an analogy for negative people, like, building up and starting a riot, But then I couldn't really think how everyone neutralized back down. And, usually, it's not as these people became angrier and angrier, these people become happier and happier.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Maybe, like, the French revolution or something. Like Yeah. These people are richer and richer, and these people are poor and poorer, and then they get mad, and so they reach out.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But the rich people aren't reaching back. Right. Right. So Yeah.
Jam:There's very limited analogies for the negativity and positive people. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting.
Melissa:So there's some there's a buildup of negativity that depends on the positivity of these other people, and then Yeah. A force happens and Neutralizes everyone out till everyone's satisfied, but I don't Yeah. Hard to think about what that a good analogy for that could be. I But I kept thinking of the Sistine Chapel.
Jam:Okay. How about this? How about this? So let's forget about negativity and positivity for a second.
Melissa:Okay.
Jam:Because it also makes it hard because you're sort of picking a side in terms of, like, a conflict or war or whatever. The pretend it's just a war. Okay. There are 2 groups of people.
Melissa:Okay.
Jam:They are both becoming more and more polarized.
Melissa:Oh, okay.
Jam:Regardless of which which is good or bad.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:The people over here getting more and more alike in this way and stronger and stronger in their feeling about
Melissa:this. Cause.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:Say their cause is negativity.
Jam:Yes. And then so is the same with the positive side over there.
Melissa:They're getting more and more polarized to their positive side.
Jam:And the more and more they polarize, there's going to have to be Correction. It's buildings. And then when there is, it's a fight. It's a big brawl. It's a loud, thunderous Huge.
Jam:Thing.
Melissa:Huge display of energy. Huge exertion of energy.
Jam:Yes. And if it it never got that bad, it wouldn't happen that way. Right?
Melissa:Right.
Jam:If it was, like, just a little kinda thing, it might correct itself in a small way. Just a few molecules getting a little
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Polarized, Bounce back, and there's no huge Yeah. Under strike. Does that work?
Melissa:I think that does work. The only problem is after of the huge expansion of energy, I don't know that people neutralize.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Of course. Usually, somebody wins.
Jam:Right. Somebody wins. That's a good point.
Melissa:So that makes it hard. But I do agree, like, if there's if there's a small scale where a few electrons are transferred, it would not cause the big Big fight with the big lightning. So it's just hard because
Jam:Maybe there's a war we could look up if we really wanted to, where there were 2 different sides, And the time where they came back to equilibrium was, like, a pretty good treaty that was, like, pretty mutual.
Melissa:You know? The Christmas thing that happened in the trenches.
Jam:Oh, yes. Okay. Yes.
Melissa:There we go. We'll just
Jam:forget what war that was.
Melissa:So we'll pretend it stopped right at there. The war never happened again after Christmas.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So they are polarized, and they're polarized, and they have this huge thing of energy. And then they're like Yeah. Okay. It's Christmas. We'll stop.
Jam:And then it was Equilibrium neutralized.
Melissa:And then we'll pretend the war ended right there.
Jam:Yes. Yes. I'm sure there are wars like that that we could look at.
Melissa:I'm sure As well. Know a ton about Although, I think history is really interest
Jam:Yeah. There's gotta be some treaty somewhere where it was like, oh, I gave equal amount of whatever, and you gave equal amount of whatever, and we're all happy. Yes. And now we're coming back to this, you know, mixture of electrons are evenly distributed. Or
Melissa:Yeah. I just thought of an analogy that would be really good, but actually, I'm using it for the next episode, so I can't share it with you.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Well, I'll
Jam:do it.
Melissa:So sorry. Okay. Well, that's it. Good job on the lightning front.
Jam:That was so interesting, dude. I love these. I love the weather stuff, so I'm excited about the next one as well, but these have been really interesting to me.
Melissa:They have really been. And then you've earned some fun and then also some less fun facts.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So one fun fact is that lightning has so much energy that it's hotter than the surface of the sun.
Jam:Oh my gosh.
Melissa:It can be up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jam:Jeez. I had no idea.
Melissa:It can also strike up to 10 miles away from the storm.
Jam:Wow.
Melissa:So if you can hear thunder, you are in danger even if you Don't necessarily see the lightning or you think the storm is far away.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. And then also, Many people die of lightning strikes every year.
Jam:How many, Lucy?
Melissa:It kills about 20 victims a year, But 100 more are injured. Some suffer lifelong neurological damage.
Jam:Yikes. Makes sense. I mean, it's like way more energy and charge Mhmm. Going through a person than should.
Melissa:So I don't know. I think it was a podcast called This Is Actually Happening where they kind of, like, interview people as they're experiencing things that you feel like will never happen? Uh-huh. And I think they interviewed someone whose child died of a lightning strike at a park.
Jam:Gosh.
Melissa:So it is real. It does happen. I remember thinking my mom was kinda paranoid, and Yeah. I was like, it's fine. But, no, it's really not fine.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So when there is a lightning storm, if you can't get inside, you want to try to get in low lying ground Because the that channel, the finger reaching out will try to happen from the highest point usually. And so you don't wanna be the highest point.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:And you should also avoid tall trees and metal that will conduct the electricity.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that's some lightning safety for you.
Jam:K.
Melissa:I don't know. K.
Jam:I mean, I did know that you're in elementary school once. Okay. So
Melissa:So when I was 6 years old Mhmm. It was the year Anastasia came out. Oh, yeah. My family was going to go watch Anastasia in the movie theaters, and, My dad was leaning up against our fireplace that had a metal grate that kind of like it was a metal grate that went up the chimney.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And it was a thunderstorm and a finger of lightning. So not the whole bolt, but a finger that came off of it hit our chimney and traveled down into my dad's body, and he flew across the room.
Jam:Oh my gosh.
Melissa:And it was crazy. My dad got struck by lightning inside the house.
Jam:Oh my gosh. So many things had to, like, line up for that to happen. You had to be leaning into that. They had to be, like, Something conducting it through Yep. Jeez.
Melissa:And he flew across the room. Yeah. And we didn't go see Anastasia. I don't remember ever when I did see it. Eventually, I did.
Melissa:Yeah. But he had to go to the hospital, and there was, like, a picture of my sister on the newspaper crying. It was, like, it was a whole thing. Yeah. And so the news.
Jam:You're you're in crisis. Can I take
Melissa:a picture of you? I know. Seriously. Gosh. And she was like, If I was sick, she was, like, 11, so that's crazy.
Melissa:But she there was a mark on him where it, like, entered his body, and then that faded away. It was like a pattern, but of, like I guess, there's a common pattern that lightning can kinda leave behind. And then that faded away, and he is totally fine because it was such a small amount because it was like a finger that traveled down instead of the whole the whole bolt didn't hit. Yeah. So
Jam:Wow. Gosh, dude.
Melissa:I know. My dad is a survivor of lightning strike, but I didn't know until, you know, I was a lot older How lucky he was. Like, how bad it could have been. And so Seriously. I tried to, like, not take showers when it's the stormy and all these things because I have experienced Yeah.
Melissa:Something really crazy like that happening. So
Jam:yeah. I wonder if, like that makes you just think about the value of some sort of lightning rod on homes to be like, okay. Please hit here instead of somewhere else nearby
Melissa:Or just being careful about you know, there's probably not a lot of surfaces that are metal that go straight from the outside of your house to the inside of your house, but the chimney happen to have that.
Jam:Know? Totally. Totally. Yeah.
Melissa:So there you go. That's my 1 in a 1000000 story. Dang. That is insane. Got struck by lightning inside the house.
Jam:Yikes.
Melissa:And I never got to see Anastasia. I mean, I did eventually, but I did it that day. Yeah. So it was December 23rd. We had always go see a movie on December 23rd.
Jam:Oh, nice.
Melissa:So it's weird that I have that. Those were the big deals to me as a kid that I could like. Yeah. I knew we always saw a movie that day.
Jam:And Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:You know?
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Very memorable, weird day, I'm sure. Gosh dang.
Melissa:So I saw my dad fly across the room from lightning, which think about that. Like, that's how powerful it was. Even though he was fine Yeah. It literally threw him across the living room. Like, from his one spot on his shoulder where he was leaning up against a grate, He flew across the living room.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:A grown man. Yeah. That's one of the guys. So much energy.
Jam:Yeah. Really. I so so crazy dude is like, I've heard Those kinds of things in lighting strike stories, not that I've heard a ton, but, like, people, like, flying through with their shoes flying off, something like that. Right. And it just it just I I believe it, but it is so hard to imagine.
Jam:Like, I just I'm like, I just don't understand it. It's a clearly, this force of nature that We can't really make sense of even if we Mhmm.
Melissa:Try
Jam:to understand the science of it. It's still less like, oh, yeah. But it's gonna do, Like, really weird things. Like, throw us across the room or blow somebody's shoes, like, a 100 feet away or
Melissa:something like that. Much energy. Yeah.
Jam:Yeah. Jeez.
Melissa:So that's my lightning story.
Jam:I don't have 1,
Melissa:unfortunately. That's good. No. That's fortunate. That's a fortunate thing.
Melissa:That's Unfortunate. But do you have any other stories? Maybe a weekend recap story?
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:Because those are all Canada's fun facts, so we still get to talk about our lives separate from that.
Jam:Okay. Okay. Wait. So you get to also? So you get to share a story from your life and
Melissa:Sorry.
Jam:Wow. That's
Melissa:that's the way the cookie crumbles. You didn't have anyone suffer from whitening.
Jam:That's true. Okay.
Melissa:Count your blessings, Jam. I get 2 stories, but you, you know That's true. I'll keep mine short for fairness sake.
Jam:Okay. Well, I have something to share that's very on brand with this episode. So I've been doing some electrical stuff
Melissa:Oh, I didn't know that.
Jam:In our house With I've been doing it as safe as I possibly can. Mhmm. This is the kind of thing that you gotta give caveats, like don't just do stuff at home. Yeah. Talk to people who are smarter than you.
Jam:Get recommendations. Take all the questions they're over. Blah blah blah. Everything that I'm about to say after this, don't forget that I said be careful, and don't do this Steph, if you don't know you're doing.
Melissa:Definitely.
Jam:So I have been adding some lights into our house.
Melissa:Wow.
Jam:And I just got Determined and inspired because I was, like, watching some videos about it and reading some stuff about it and was like, I think I can do this. Something about the way lights and circuits and stuff work just started to click for me and make sense. Wow. Not in every single way. Like, I don't understand everything.
Jam:I'm not electrician. But simple stuff like adding a light to a circuit that's already there.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:So just there's already a light on 1 circle. I don't add another one.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Stuff that's pretty simple, that's pretty doable
Melissa:At home.
Jam:And so I added 1 above our guest shower, which is pretty dark in there.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And I did that one. I was really not sure if it's gonna work. You know, I did all the stuff. I had the breakers off and stuff, and then I did this all at, like, late at night while my son was asleep. And then was very surprised when I turned the breaker back on and turned the switch on, and it worked.
Jam:So
Melissa:Yay. That's cool.
Jam:So then I was like, okay. Challenge 1 challenge Accepted and completed and succeeded. So why don't I add 2 lights to our bathroom? So added 1 above our toilet. Wow.
Jam:And above our shower?
Melissa:So you made the hole in the ceiling. Mhmm. You put the thing that accepts the light bulb in there with all of its wires. Mhmm. And you put the fixture on too.
Jam:Now I will say I
Melissa:use these really light bulb in.
Jam:Exactly. I use these really cool mean, it's not super new, but relatively new.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Really low profile LED, Light things that are recessed lights. So there's a lot of things that make it easier about that because they actually have this way of staying in the drywall. You don't have to, like, Add a box and Right. Straight to it, like, one of the studs in the ceiling and stuff like that. They have this way of clipping, Really secured down to the drywall without pulling too much shut down.
Melissa:Oh, that's nice.
Jam:And so that makes it easier for sure.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:So but yes. Exactly you explained. In our bathroom, I had to do it twice. I added 1 light above our toilet. And then from that light, I did a a some wiring over to Another hole I made above our shower and added 1 there.
Melissa:How?
Jam:And now it's like we can see
Melissa:Do you feel so powerful?
Jam:I do. I feel also The feeling that you feel when you've done something you think you couldn't do and you kinda get addicted to that feeling.
Melissa:I remember the first time this is so weird, But the blinds in the room and the house I was renting Uh-huh. Were just broken, and you couldn't, like, open them or close them. They were always halfway. Mhmm. And I Googled it and found a YouTube video on how you can remove blinds.
Melissa:Uh-huh. And it was not straightforward, But I took those blinds out, and I was like, I can change things I don't like.
Jam:Yes. Yes.
Melissa:And then I started adding Hand towel racks and toilet paper racks where I wanna I, like, changed everything. Anything I didn't like, I just fixed it. Yeah. Yeah. It's so amazing.
Jam:Such a great feeling.
Melissa:Really is.
Jam:The other things I wanna do are gonna be more complicated. Like, I have to Add another switch as well to the next thing I wanna do. And then I'm gonna try to add 4 lights in one of the rooms Wow. And a switch. So that'll be kinda challenging.
Jam:The room you and I recording right now, notice there are no lights on the ceiling at all. My gosh. That will be that 1 after that. It'll have to be like, each thing is a stepping stone Oh, exciting. A little more difficult.
Jam:You know? It's like, this one, I have to add lights Where there is no light at all. But you're
Melissa:gonna be able to. Yes. I believe in you.
Jam:I hope so. So that's what I've been doing. And
Melissa:That's very cool.
Jam:Electricity, electrons. I've just been doing some chemistry up in
Melissa:You really have been. My, sister in his boyfriend is studying to be electrician, and I'm like, in a way, we're both chemist.
Jam:Yeah. That is fascinating to me. I love
Melissa:electricity.
Jam:I would love to, in a deaf different life, be an electrician. Sort of like, I would love to do it and then come back to my real life.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Like, I'd love to just Go experience that for a bit.
Melissa:Well, and that's something we I don't think we've talked about on here, but I don't think that college is always the best option for people.
Jam:Totally.
Melissa:I think a lot of people go to college for skills that they they're sort of just going because they just think they should, but then they just get this sort of generalized skill set that's not helpful in any one area. Yeah. I knew I wanna do chemistry, so that was easier for me. Right. Although I did think I wanna do neuroscience for a while.
Melissa:But If you aren't sure and you have a passion for something like plumbing or electricity or cars, going to a trade school where you can learn that Trade is actually going you would probably spend less on schooling and earn more very rapidly, and you're in a job that is almost always going to be in demand unless the whole society as we know it falls apart.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And, yeah, you can make a very good living of that. And it might be useful after you've gained that skill to go back to school for an MBA so you can have a business.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But learning those skills is really, really Important. And not very many people see that as an option, but it is a that is a very good option for a long term career. Yeah. Yeah. Highly recommend.
Melissa:Yeah. And you can build over time your skill set and then start managing people and then have a business, You can sort of transition into a manager role by the time that you Yeah. Are ready to be not on your feet all the time as an older person. Yeah. I strongly recommend.
Jam:Yes. Definitely. So that was my thing of the week. Just try and top that. I'm just kidding.
Melissa:I can't top that.
Jam:I'm just kidding.
Melissa:But I will say my husband's family has that same thing where Yeah. Yeah. They just fix things they don't like. And, actually, his, grandfather-in-law built, like, a whole tower on a house. There's a house where they used to live in Amarillo that has, Like a little it almost looks like a turret in the back.
Melissa:It's not huge, but it just sort of sticks up above the house, and they Just changed it to make the bathroom on the bottom floor big and then put a little bedroom on top up's, like, spiral staircase.
Jam:Wow.
Melissa:I know. And I'm like, wait. You know someone who built that part of a house? That's incredible to me. Yeah.
Melissa:And he remodeled their whole home they're in now, and his dad before he passed away, it was like that. And, actually, That's a good transition into my thing, which is, my husband's dad. A lot of you don't know. He didn't talk about it very much on air, but he passed away right after we got married Mhmm. About a year ago.
Melissa:And we needed to go through some of his stuff, so we went over to my husband's grandparents' house, which is It's sort of always, like, a big family affair type thing where, his grandmother is there and her husband who they've been married a really long time, so That was kind of like Mason's grandpa growing up. Yeah. And her daughter and their kids. It's just like and her partner, and there's just, like, Everybody and their partners are all there, and it's just a huge big party kind of thing. Yeah.
Melissa:Yeah. And his family came into town from Amarillo. His immediate family's Sister, brother, they're partners. It was just like everybody was there, and his mom even stayed an extra day and just hung out at the house with us. But it was just Really nice to see everybody.
Melissa:And, again, it's sort of, like, going back to what I said on the last episode. I'm getting back into being a person.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And so he's been over there several times without me to do things because I was just working all the time. You know? And it was just really nice to get to connect with family and reminisce and hear stories about his dad who I Actually, wasn't ever able to meet. Weirdly, we both lost a parent at a really young age, and we weren't ever able to meet either of them. So it was nice to learn about some qualities that Mason shares with him.
Melissa:And so Yeah. Being with the family. So
Jam:Dang. Dude, that's very cool. I mean, sad, but good that there can be sweet moments
Melissa:Right. When
Jam:you come together like that, and then we really good family time and stuff. So I I know exactly what you mean.
Melissa:Food together.
Jam:Yes. Yeah. That's cool.
Melissa:And we always go to hot pot when they come into town. We love hot pot.
Jam:Nice. It's nice.
Melissa:Yeah. It was a good weekend.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:Awesome. Well so thanks for that good segue jam. You you set it up perfectly for me. And thanks to all of you listeners, especially Samwise who came up with this episode idea. We literally cannot do it without you, and it's so fun that we get to come here Every weekend, share a little chemistry lesson.
Jam:And thank you for teaching us, especially things that are so fascinating and Confusing and things we all wondered ever since we're kids. I mean, we've all wondered about lightning. So thanks for teaching us. And if you have an idea like Samwise did about a question in the world you think might be chemistry, please reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at Kim for your life. That's Kim, f o r, your life to share your thoughts and ideas.
Jam:If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the costs of making it, go to kodashfi.com/ Kim for your life. Or tap the link on our show notes, enter at the cost of a cup of coffee. If you're not able to donate, can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app and rating and writing our review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes or on our website. Jim Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to Garza and
