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Lightning is alternating current...
Rob Beckers:
--- Quote from: OperaHouse on April 05, 2023, 08:31:39 AM ---All current is AC. DC is just slow AC.
--- End quote ---
I like that one! Actually a good way to view it! To get back to the other message about a square wave and its harmonics: If that square wave goes from 0V to 10V and back to 0V (and repeat) it's "DC", in that current only flows one way (for a resistive load). But, it of course behaves just like AC and will pass through a capacitor, and have lots of harmonics, up to and including the MHz range.
Lightning is like that: Current flows in one direction, but it's fast, it changes intensity rapidly, and his has energy in the 100's of KHz (and Mhz) spectrum. I once tried to tease out its inner works and a long time ago wrote a series of articles, mostly about how to prevent damage from it (it started in trying to do just that for customers with wind turbines). It has some background about lightning too: https://www.solacity.com/lightning-protection/
FWIW..
-Rob-
tanner0441:
Hi
Surely lightning is static electricity so technically neither AC or DC as we know them, and though it is measured in volts it is EMF not PD volts.
Brian
OperaHouse:
It is static until it moves.
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