Thunderstorms roll through with typical dark clouds and deafening booms but above the storm clouds, instantaneous flashes of light sprites go almost unnoticed to the human eye. Recent discoveries have proved the presence of massive light flashes extend to ten miles wide and thirty miles high by the use of high speed cameras since the flashes of light are unrecognizable to the human eye. Beyond the discovery demonstrating the brilliant beauty of natural science, the effects on physics and chemistry are still being observed. During the development of a thunderstorm, particle movement in the atmospheric gases causes charges to build up and lightning to occur when an electrical charge is dropped to the ground through the attraction to the charge of the Earth. Opposed to lightning, the unknown sprites form differently. Sprites form in positively charged thunderstorms and when the positively charged lightning strikes the ground, the electric field in the atmosphere 30-55 miles above earth increases, sparking the bright sprite flash. The sprites form “house-sized” pockets of ionization fields which speed downwards at 10 percent the speed of light which excites nitrogen molecules in the air causing the molecules to glow red or blue depending on the altitude. Throughout the immediate excitement of particles, balls of lights spit out in many miles and directions to culminate towards the giant jets of upward lightning changing from blue to red streaks as the end of space is approached. Since the sprite events are hard to document as well as are remarkable unstudied so far, the effects of sprites in weather, climate, and natural processes is fairly unknown. The door is open to further explore and answer questions about the effects of molecular charge in weather climates.
Submitted by Naomi Barker
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