Lightning is a familiar feature of storms on the Earth, and has also been seen on Jupiter and inferred indirectly to occur on Venus and Neptune. On Jupiter, lightning may be important as a source of energy to drive chemical reactions in the atmosphere, perhaps determining the abundances of molecules such as CO, HCN and C2H2. Lightning may be generated in Jupiter's water clouds by a mechanism similar to that which operates in terrestrial thunderstorms. Here we investigate the development of lightning by modelling the thunderstorm separation of electrical charge on precipitating ice particles at varying depths in Jupiter's atmosphere. We find that lightning can indeed be generated in the jovian water clouds, and that--in agreement with estimates from the analysis of Voyager images--it is most likely to occur at the 3- or 4-bar pressure level. Our model also predicts that a condensed-water abundance in the range of at least 1-2 g m-3 is required for lightning to occur in jovian thunderstorms--a prediction that may be tested when the Galileo probe arrives at Jupiter on 7 December 1995.

create lightning bolts to rapidly discharge huge amounts of atmospheric charge stored in storm clouds, and the continual electrification of the air due Atmospheric electricity describes the electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Atmospheric electricity is an interdisciplinary topic with a long history, involving concepts from electrostatics, atmospheric physics, meteorolog St. Elmo's Fire is an electrical phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object. Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire, whereas they are separate and distinct phenomena. Although referred to as "fire", St. Elmo's Fire is, in fact, plasma, and is observed, usually during a thunderstorm, at the tops of trees, spires or other tall objects, or on the heads of animals, as a brush or star of light. Corona is caused by the electric field around the object in question ionizing the air molecules, producing a faint glow easily visible in low-light conditions. Approximately 1,000 – 30,000 volts per centimeter is required to induce St. Elmo's Fire; however, this is dependent on the geometry of the object in question. Sharp points tend to require lower voltage levels to produce the same result…

2023-July Notes: I wrote this during the summer after my senior year in high school. Some minor fixes and added some Wikipedia links. This report was prepared for William J. (Bill) Borucki. The goal was to try to be able to simulate martian soil and to understand the risks to space suits on Mars. Topics / Notes Martian Soil Smectite Palagonite SNC meteorites - Doesn't look promising Triboluminescence / Thermoluminescence Charges in Martian & Terrestrial Dust Storms Charging of dust in space UV Light Ring particle collision. Kurt Schwehr 7-90 Dust Storms,Volcanic Dust, and Electricity in Volcanic Clouds Investigations show that lightning can result from charge-separation processes in a volcanic cloud and dust storms. Kamra (1972) presents the data from his field observations of two months. The data taken was potential gradient, space charge, wind speed, and dust particle size. He quotes several sources ( Rudge 1914, Demon 1953, Uchikawa 1951, and Harris 1967 & 1969) for potential gradients in dust storms of -10 kV/m, +15 kV/m, -600 V/m, and -5 kV/m respectively. At a farm near Lubbock, Texas some small puffs or whirls of dust could be seen around the measuring site. Whenever such puffs passed close, potential gradient and space charge generally experienced a negative excursion. On May 2, 1971 near Lubbock, Texas, with wind speeds about 10(+/-5) m/sec , Kamra recorded a potential gradient peak at -90 V/m and with a space charge of +9*10^-3 el/cm^3. The relative humidity was 25%

E. The air—or, properly speaking, the vapour—between cloudy particles—that is to say, within fog or cloud, is generally in a state of supersaturation; but if it is steadily rising to higher altitudes, thereby expanding and cooling, the supersaturation must increase steadily until it reaches a degree at which the molecular strain gives way, and a sudden violent condensation takes place, in which process both the vapour and the cloud particles within a comparatively large sphere are instantaneously gathered into a large drop. The electricity that may be developed in this process may give rise to the lightning flash, instead of the reverse process described in the preceding paragraphs (C and D). F. However plausible the preceding five hypotheses have seemed to be, it must be confessed that no one has ever yet observed precipitation actually formed by these processes. The laborious observations of C. T. R. Wilson of Cambridge, England, probably give us our first correct idea as to the molecular processes involved in the formation of rain.

104 per g of air for the smallest to 1-9 per g of air for the largest. Growth curves … and form a nucleus for the ice phase. Theoretical expressions for the rate of formation of … Thunderclouds 163 account for the observed frequency of lightning flashes and the changes