A lightning bolt carries about 1 billion joules of energy
A typical cloud-to-ground lightning stroke delivers on the order of 10⁹ joules — about a billion. Spread over months that could run a 100-watt bulb, but the bolt dumps it in a fraction of a second.
That sudden release is why lightning is dangerous and spectacular: extreme power, not just large total energy. Peak currents can reach tens of thousands of amperes along the channel.
Engineers design towers, aircraft, and power grids around those spikes. Capturing lightning for everyday electricity remains impractical; the value is safer systems, not free power from the sky.
Shahzad Mahota
A lightning bolt carries about 1 billion joules of energy
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