<Li> Laser - triggered <Dl> <Dd> Since the 1970s, researchers have attempted to trigger lightning strikes by means of infrared or ultraviolet lasers, which create a channel of ionized gas through which the lightning would be conducted to ground . Such triggering of lightning is intended to protect rocket launching pads, electric power facilities, and other sensitive targets . </Dd> <Dd> In New Mexico, U.S., scientists tested a new terawatt laser which provoked lightning . Scientists fired ultra-fast pulses from an extremely powerful laser thus sending several terawatts into the clouds to call down electrical discharges in storm clouds over the region . The laser beams sent from the laser make channels of ionized molecules known as "filaments". Before the lightning strikes earth, the filaments lead electricity through the clouds, playing the role of lightning rods . Researchers generated filaments that lived a period too short to trigger a real lightning strike . Nevertheless, a boost in electrical activity within the clouds was registered . According to the French and German scientists who ran the experiment, the fast pulses sent from the laser will be able to provoke lightning strikes on demand . Statistical analysis showed that their laser pulses indeed enhanced the electrical activity in the thundercloud where it was aimed--in effect they generated small local discharges located at the position of the plasma channels . </Dd> </Dl> </Li> <Dl> <Dd> Since the 1970s, researchers have attempted to trigger lightning strikes by means of infrared or ultraviolet lasers, which create a channel of ionized gas through which the lightning would be conducted to ground . Such triggering of lightning is intended to protect rocket launching pads, electric power facilities, and other sensitive targets . </Dd> <Dd> In New Mexico, U.S., scientists tested a new terawatt laser which provoked lightning . Scientists fired ultra-fast pulses from an extremely powerful laser thus sending several terawatts into the clouds to call down electrical discharges in storm clouds over the region . The laser beams sent from the laser make channels of ionized molecules known as "filaments". Before the lightning strikes earth, the filaments lead electricity through the clouds, playing the role of lightning rods . Researchers generated filaments that lived a period too short to trigger a real lightning strike . Nevertheless, a boost in electrical activity within the clouds was registered . According to the French and German scientists who ran the experiment, the fast pulses sent from the laser will be able to provoke lightning strikes on demand . Statistical analysis showed that their laser pulses indeed enhanced the electrical activity in the thundercloud where it was aimed--in effect they generated small local discharges located at the position of the plasma channels . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> Since the 1970s, researchers have attempted to trigger lightning strikes by means of infrared or ultraviolet lasers, which create a channel of ionized gas through which the lightning would be conducted to ground . Such triggering of lightning is intended to protect rocket launching pads, electric power facilities, and other sensitive targets . </Dd> <Dd> In New Mexico, U.S., scientists tested a new terawatt laser which provoked lightning . Scientists fired ultra-fast pulses from an extremely powerful laser thus sending several terawatts into the clouds to call down electrical discharges in storm clouds over the region . The laser beams sent from the laser make channels of ionized molecules known as "filaments". Before the lightning strikes earth, the filaments lead electricity through the clouds, playing the role of lightning rods . Researchers generated filaments that lived a period too short to trigger a real lightning strike . Nevertheless, a boost in electrical activity within the clouds was registered . According to the French and German scientists who ran the experiment, the fast pulses sent from the laser will be able to provoke lightning strikes on demand . Statistical analysis showed that their laser pulses indeed enhanced the electrical activity in the thundercloud where it was aimed--in effect they generated small local discharges located at the position of the plasma channels . </Dd>

Thunder is the explosion that occurs when positive and negative charges collide and neutralize