High-speed camera captures amazing lightning flash

High-speed camera captures amazing lightning flash
A screen grab from Florida Institute of Technology video showing a lightning flash captured by a high-speed camera. Credit: Geospace Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology

Scientists at Florida Institute of Technology used a high-speed camera to capture an amazing lighting flash from a May 20 storm near the university's Melbourne campus.

The flash was recorded at 7,000 frames per second (FPS). The playback speed seen in the video is 700 FPS.

The video was captured as part of the process of testing the camera for its ultimate use, which will be centered on capturing and studying the dynamics and energetics of the upward electrical discharges from known as starters, jets and gigantic jets.

Principal Investigator Ningyu Liu from the Geospace Physics Laboratory in Florida Tech's Department of Physics and Space Sciences is available for interviews.

An MP4 video of the lightning flash is available upon request.

The lightning flash captured here happened during a May 20 storm not far from the Florida Tech campus in Melbourne. It was recorded at 7,000 frames per second using a high-speed camera. Credit: Geospace Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology.

Citation: High-speed camera captures amazing lightning flash (2016, May 24) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2016-05-high-speed-camera-captures-amazing-lightning.html
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