Dangerous Earth — Season 1, Episode 3: Lightning
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 6 episodes
Episode synopsis
Series showing how new camera technology is revealing the inner workings of the Earth's most spectacular natural wonders. Dr Helen Czerski examines the extraordinary new images - from eyewitnesses, scientists and film-makers - that are transforming our understanding of how and why these phenomena form. In this episode she examines the hottest natural phenomena on the planet - lightning. Bolts of lightning five times hotter than the surface of the sun strike our planet over 3 million times every day - and yet we still know little about this deadly force of nature. Now, specialist photography is revealing how lightning travels through the air, high-speed cameras are unlocking the secrets of upward lightning that's triggered by our urban landscapes, and scientific expeditions are capturing rare images of intense electrical discharges over 80 kilometres wide.
About Dangerous Earth
Series showing how new camera technology is revealing the inner workings of the Earth's most spectacular natural wonders.