. During a lightning strike, about 10 C of charge can be transferred from the cl

Question

. During a lightning strike, about 10 C of charge can be transferred from the clouds to the ground. Since the air is ionized to allow the discharge, the electric field strength along the lightning path is about 3.0 × 106 V/m. (a) Assuming the electric field strength is roughly constant with altitude, what is the potential difference between the ground and clouds (about 3.0 km away) when the lightning strikes? (b) What as the capacitance of the ground-cloud capacitor? (c) How much electric potential energy was stored in this capacitor? What is this energy in liters-of-gasoline? (Burning 1 L of gasoline releases 36 MJ of energy.)

Explanation / Answer

(A) delta(V) = E. d

delta(V) = (3 x 10^6 V/m) (3 x 10^3 m )

= 9 x 10^9 Volt

(B) Q = C V

10 = C (9 x 10^9 )

C = 1.11 x 10^-9 F

(C) U = C V^2 /2 = 4.5 x 10^19 J ...Ans

for Gasoline,

4.5 x 10^19 = m (36 x 10^6)

m = 1.29 x 10^12 L

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