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Show i LIGHTNING j CAN BE , I BENEFICIAL Admittedly, lightning so common ana spectacular in late summer thunderstorms thunder-storms is dangerous. However, How-ever, it Is highly beneficial to man. As a result of lightning action, ac-tion, the earth's surface receives re-ceives the equivalent of about ; 12 pounds of fertilizer per ! acre each year. Those nutrients nu-trients act to green up lawns j and fields and play a vital ! part in the growth of trees and plants in the forests and ranges. Lightning in its various forms includes streak, forked, fork-ed, sheet, ribbon, beaded and ball. These electrical discharges dis-charges produce ozone, ammonia am-monia and oxides of nitrogen. nitro-gen. The ammonia dissolves in rain and become ammonium ammoni-um hydroxide. The oxides of nitrogen are carried to the earth by rainwater to form soluble nitrities. Lightning, estimated to strike the earth somewhere one hundred times every second, must be respected respect-ed both for its benefits and its hazard. There about 150 lightning caused deaths and j additional 250 injuries from lightning, and property losses exceed $100 million mil-lion dollars each year. |
