What Is A Hazard Of Lightning?

Lightning is one of the most common hazards associated with electrostatics.
Lightning: it is common to see flashes of lightning just before and also during a thunderstorm. This is due to a large quantity of electric charge being built up in the heavy thunderclouds. The thunderclouds are charges by friction between the water molecules in the thunderclouds and the air molecules. When the charge on the thunderclouds is sufficiently large, it can ionize the air which provides a conducting path for the huge quantity of charge to be discharged to the nearest or sharpest object on the ground.

This explains why it is very dangerous to swim in the open sea, play in an open field or hide under a tree during a thunderstorm. Soldiers building trenches on a mountain top must never use zinc sheets as a form of shelter during a thunderstorm. To prevent lighting from damaging tall buildings, lightning conductors are used. The purpose of the lightning conductor is to provide a steady discharge path for the huge number of electrons in air to flow from the top of the building to the earth. In this way, the chance of a lightning bolt (due to sudden discharge) is minimized.