Lightning

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in damage to buildings, communications systems, power lines, and electrical systems are also the result of . Finally, the threat of causes many work stoppages and lost production increasing the time and cost required to
prepare NASA spacecraft for flight.
Benjamin Franklin performed the first systematic, scientific study of during the second half of the 18th century. Prior to that time, electrical science had developed to the point where positive and negative charges could be separated. Electrical machines could, by rubbing together two different materials, store the charges in primitive capacitors called Leyden Jars from which sparks could be generated and observed.
While others had previously noted the similarity between laboratory sparks and lightning, Franklin was the first to design an experiment which conclusively proved the electrical nature of lightning. In his experiment, he theorized that clouds are electrically charged, from which it follows that lightning ...

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