8. Lightning’s Ability to Produce Nuclear Reactions
Scientists have made a novel finding: nuclear processes in the Earth’s atmosphere can be started by lightning. This result questions our knowledge of the possible influence of natural events on atomic dynamics.
The electric fields in especially severe lightning strikes can grow so strong that they accelerate electrons almost to the speed of light. Usually connected with radioactive decay and nuclear explosions, gamma rays is produced when these high-energy electrons hit with atoms in the air.
Photonuclear reaction is the phenomena whereby these gamma rays interact with the nuclei of nitrogen atoms in the air. Neutrons can be knocked out of the nitrogen nuclei by this reaction, momentarily generating radioactive nitrogen-13 which then decays back to stable carbon-13.
Although the created radioactivity is negligible and does not endanger human health, this discovery has important consequences for our knowledge of atmospheric processes and the possibility of natural events to affect nuclear physics. It also provides fresh directions for investigating high-energy physics with a particle accelerator derived from natural lightning.