Where Does Lightning Come From?

There are actually many different religions around the world and each of them has their own unique spiritual belief from one another. The "Vatican" is the largest Christian religious sector in the world and they are known as "Catholics". Perhaps due to the large number of their followers, there are a lot of critiques from other religions regarding about their teachings and practices.

Recently, some group of individuals claimed that the Vatican Church was being struck by powerful lightning bolts because they had anger God due to their false teachings and bad practices.


So I did some further research if God's anger really have some connection with lightning and then I found the answer from the Bible which can be read from the scripture of Luke 10:18.

Like 10:18] "I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven."

When Satan had angered God, he was struck by God's powerful lightning driving him down onto the surface of the Earth.

So does it means that the lightning bolt that is repeatedly hitting the Vatican Church every time that a thunderstorm comes around means that they angered God?

In my own opinion, if the Vatican Church really angered God then the lightning bolt that will strike the structure down will surely wipe it out of its existence. Since its not, it has nothing to do about angering God.

Vatican Church

Science actually have a better way of explaining the reason why lightning bolt keeps on hitting the Vatican Church. You have to know that it is simply normal for any tall buildings or structures to be struck down by lightning.

According to some individuals, the Vatican Church is equipped with a Lightning Rod System. This is an electrical device designed to attract lightning and dispose the electric discharge properly deep into the ground. Thus, it is by no surprise why lightning bolts keeps hitting the Vatican Church during a thunderstorm.

We all know for a fact that "thunderstorm" only occurs during a bad weather condition. In most cases, the clouds from the sky turns dark and gusty winds tends to blow around in different directions. It is then followed by a heavy rainfall and sometimes along with hails. According to some scientists, all of these events are actually caused by a particular cloud known as the "Cumulonimbus".


Throughout the years that scientists have been studying thunderstorms, they had covered several interesting facts about it. So here they are:

1. Lightning and thunder always occur one after the other. It's because lightning is what actually produce thunder. The scientific explanation is that, thunder is generated due to the sudden expansion of air that has been rapidly heated by lightning.

2. Most recorded deaths and serious injuries caused by lightning were those people caught outdoors during the month of Summer. Based on the records, common incidents usually occur during the afternoon and evening.

3. In the Greek Mythology, Zeus was the god that possess the power of lightning and thunder. His Norse Mythology counterpart was Thor.

4. The most interesting fact that you might want to know is that, right now there are around 18, 000 thunderstorms that are taking place on different parts of the world.

5. The place that suffers the most thunderstorm occurrences is at Tororo, Uganda. Some scientists claim that this place experiences thunderstorms for 251 days a year.

6. If you have a fear of the loud trembling sound of the thunder then you probably have a phobia known as the "Brontophobia". It's "Astrophobia" if you fear both lightning and thunder.

7. When a certain individual got struck by a lightning, they do not carry any electrical charge. Thus, it is completely safe to touch them which is a "must" because they need immediate medical attention.

8. Did you know that even if you follow all the safety precautions to avoid lightning strikes, there is still a possibility that you will get hit?

According to some mathematicians, they had calculated that there's about 1 out of 600, 000 chances that you will get hit by lightning if you "do not follow" the safety precautions. This chances can be reduced if you know how to follow the safety precautions.

8. When lightning is about to occur near you, you will notice that your hair stands up on their ends.

9. The distance of the lightning can be calculated mathematically which gives an estimated result.

Why there is No Rain on some Thunderstorm?

Tropical regions of the world is what often experienced thunderstorm along with heavy rainfall. But, there are some strange occurrences where there's a lightning storm but no rainfall. Some scientists actually explains that rain and lightning are two different forces of nature. In short, they are created in a different process.


As already covered in the previous posts, lightning are created by charged particles inside the clouds. These particles include ice, water and dusts. And through the clouds' movements, the particles inside are forced to bump and collide with one another which causes friction that produces static electricity.

Unlike lightning, rains are created when the air in the atmosphere can no longer hold on to the amount of "Water Vapor" that they contain. This usually happens when a mass of cold air collides against wet-mass of hot air.

According to some source, hot air holds larger amount of water vapor as compared to the cold air. So what actually happens is that, when the hot air made collision with the cold air, the result is a battle of temperature. Unfortunately, cold air will always influence the hot air to become cold. This will decrease the amount of water that the air can hold where it needs to get rid some of it. As the final result, rainfall drops from the sky.

Do Planes still Fly during a Thunderstorm?

It actually all depends to the current condition of the thunderstorm. You have to know that a plane can still fly regardless of an occurring thunderstorm provided that there is no possible threat that has been detected.


Pilots actually studied everything about weather which is a part of their field of expertise. Thus, they really know what kind of thunderstorm to avoid which allows them to decide either to continue or not.

Anyway, if you travel a lot then you might already have some experiences of getting delayed due to a bad weather conditions. There's really no reason for you to complain because it is for your own safety.

Here are some following reasons why a pilot decides to delay the flight:

1. Bad Thunderstorm

Bad thunderstorm accompanied by large hailstorms, icing and severe turbulence had already caused countless number of plane crashes throughout history.

A large-sized hailstones can accidentally hit and damage the airframe of a plane. This usually happens when the plane goes inside the clouds.

2. Large Hurricane

A plane can suffer a bad turbulence when flown through a large hurricane.

3. Strong Wind

A strong or powerful wind blowing-off around the airport is not safe for any plane to take-off.

4. Visibility

The pilots must have clear visibility upon take-off. But if it's quite too foggy, they will issue a flight delay.

Lightning is not considered a threat for a plane to fly. In fact, it is considered as a safe flying zone if the thunderstorm is simply causing some flashes of lightning. If you are worried that the lightning might struck your plane, relax because all commercial planes are now designed with a system that can withstand them. Thus, if the thunderstorm simply consists of lightning then the flight resumes.

It is not actually possible that a lightning can directly strike you inside your own house because you are well protected by your house's rooftop, walls and windows. But not unless, there's an opening that invites the lightning to come inside.

There was one accident that occurred in the past where the victim was struck by lightning while inside her room. The incident occurred during the summer thunderstorm at Chippenham, Wiltshire and the victim was a 49 years-old nurse, "Jennifer Lyons".

According to the report, Jennifer was inside her room having a conversation on her cellular phone. You have to know that any wireless devices that emits microwave signal can attract lightning. In addition to her mobile phone, the window of her room was opened.

A sudden powerful lightning suddenly struck the nearby Satellite Dish outside Jennifer's house but the remaining electrical discharge was diverted to the victim. According to Jennifer, the lightning bolt struck her head but for some reason, she miraculously survived without suffering any serious injury.

Aside from making a wireless phone call near an open window of your house, there are also other possible means that the electrical discharge of the lightning can travel inside. In most cases, the electrical current can find its way through the conducive materials or parts of your house.

Here are some common possible mediums or conductors on how a lightning can penetrate inside your house:

1. Telephone Cable Wires

We are specifically referring about those corded-type of telephones connected to a long cable wire. If you are going to follow the long cable wire, you will find out that its connected from the "Power Lines" nearby your house. You have to know that power lines are an attraction to lightning strikes. So if it happens that you are using your telephone and at an unfortunate event, a lightning suddenly struck the power line. As a result, the excessive amount of electrical current induced by the lightning will travel into the telephone's cable wires where you will end up getting electrocuted.

Thus, the best advice is to avoid using your telephone during a bad thunderstorm. If you really need to make an emergency call, use your mobile phone but stay away from the windows when you use it.

2. Plumbing

Plumbing refers to the pipes, drain fittings, valves and other metallic tubes responsible for the distribution of the water supply around your house. And just like the cable wires, a lightning's electrical discharge can travel through them.

One of the qualities of lightning that has been discovered by the scientists is that, lightning tends to be attracted by the most conducive type of materials. Most plumbing materials are made of metallic elements which makes them a perfect conductor. So if it happens that the water-pipes outside your house (which goes inside your house) are not buried deep enough the ground, the lightning's electrical discharge can reach them allowing the current to travel inside your house. Due to this reason, you should stay away from your bath tub, shower and toilets during a bad thunderstorm.

3. Windows

Most houses today are built with metallic window frames. But as already mentioned above, lightning has the characteristic of being attracted by conducive materials such as metals. Thus, it is highly advised that you should stay away from the windows during a thunderstorm.

4. Electronic Devices

It is not actually just your corded telephone and mobile phones that can possibly attract lightning inside your house but all other electronic devices. Some of them includes your TV, computer, refrigerator and etc...

Common to all of the electronic devices is that you need to plug them into the "Wall-Outlet". You have to know that your house's electrical outlets are also connected into the power lines.


Overall, a lightning cannot directly strike you inside your house but it can possibly get inside through various means such as those that has been discussed above.

According to some scientific theory, lightning had already existed even before Earth was created. It's because according to some scientists, they claim that there are countless number of lightning that are continuously occurring in the outer space. In fact, one scientific theory even suggest that life on Earth was caused by lightning.

Did you know that mankind had discovered fire through lightning?

In the early ancient period of our time, mankind were known to have discovered fire from lightning. Common stories around was that, a powerful lightning bolt had struck a tall tree that it got burned and was set on fire. Through observation and curiosity, our ancient ancestors were able to learn more about fire and harness its benefits.


Thanks to lightning for introducing fire but in return, primitive man started considering lightning as a part of their superstitious belief.

Some Spiritual Belief about Lightning

People from different parts of the world actually have their own spiritual or religious belief when it comes to lightning. And, here are some of them:

1. Greek Mythology

In early Greeks, they do believe in the existence of mythological gods and goddesses. Greeks had "Zeus" who can summon and manipulate thunderbolts. While in the Norse or Scandinavian mythology, they also had their popular hero named "Thor" who also possess the power of lightning.

2. Pantheistic Hindu Religion

In Pantheistic Hindu religion, they believe in their god named "Indra" who has the power to command lightning, rain, storms and thunder. Believe it or not, some believers of this religion (even today) goes out in the middle of the storm to ask their god to command the lightning or thunderstorm to go away out from their affected residential areas.

3. Navajo Indians

Navajo Indians strongly believe that lightning offers them great power in their healing rituals.

4. Bible

You can actually read in the Bible that the Creator used lightning in creating the world which can be read from Jeremiah 51:16;

Jeremiah 51:16] "He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures."

Studying Lightning through Science

Science started studying lightning since the time of "Sir Isaac Newton". He first proposed that Basic Mathematical Laws can explain the causes of all forces of nature which include lightning.

In 1746, Dr. Spence had demonstrated an "electric magic" where one of his spectators was Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin was actually the scientist who dedicated most of his time studying lightning and electricity. At the age of 42, he had already accomplished a lot of interesting discoveries about them. In 1752 to 1753, his final and most popular experiment that he conducted was the "kite" in which he had proven that lightning was a form of "electricity". His experiment was a great success which made him popular especially in all science history books.

Aside from Franklin's successful kite experiment, his reputation as a scientists even became more respectable when he invented the "Lightning Rod System".


Today, some scientist released a theoretical conclusion that lightning played an important role in the evolution of living organisms here on Earth.

Theory about Lightning and the Evolution of Living Organisms

Some scientists have speculated that when Earth was finally completed, powerful thunderstorm took place for several hundred years. As lightning struck down the surface of the Earth hitting various form of elements, it somehow caused reactions. Scientists explains that the immense heat induced by the lightning can actually convert elements into compounds found today in various organisms.

Big Bang Theory

The "Lightning Theory" above has a slight similarity to the "Big Bang Theory" in which they both have something to do with the explosion (lightning does produce explosion through its electrical discharge). If you are not familiar about the Big Bang Theory, some scientists believe that the origin of "everything" had started from a very powerful explosion in the empty space that took place in the very beginning of time.


Some popular scientists who believes in the Big Bang Theory were Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, Stephen Hawking and many others...

Primordial Soup Theory

The closest theory speculated from the past that is related to lightning was the so called "Primordial Soup Theory" by Darwinists. According to this theory, powerful bolt of lightning had struck a lake full of "primordial soup" (some kind of elements that contains all building blocks of life). As a result, the extreme heat of temperature induced by the lightning bolt had caused the building blocks of life to become active. In short, the lightning caused a "jump-start".

Moreover, scientists claims that there are still a lot of undiscovered aspects about lightning.

Many individuals do believe in the myth or urban legend that rubbers can repel lightning in which it offers them the best protection against lightning strike during a bad thunderstorm. This urban legend actually started when some unknown sources claimed that you are completely safe inside your car during a thunderstorm due to the rubber tires.

The truth is that, it's not actually the rubber tires that makes you safe inside the car but it's the car's metallic body parts. Its metallic body parts acts like a "Faraday Cage" wherein the electrical current spreads and dissipates outside the car and not from the inside.

About A Boy Who Was Save By His Rubber Boots

There was a report that I came across which was all about a boy who got struck directly by a lightning bolt. Fortunately, he survived because of the rubber boots that he was wearing. Is this really possible?



If the rubber boots that the boy was wearing does insulate him from lightning strikes then he won't be struck in the first place. Well, rubber boots does not provide such protection. Thus, the electric discharge had probably dissipated from every ends or part of his body. This can be at the end of his hair, fingers and toes. There were actually some lightning victims that the shoes they were wearing even end up bursting into pieces.

Anyway, many people do survive after being directly hit by a lighting. However, it does cause some serious life-time effect that are related to nerve damages.

Pregnant Women Saved by her Rubber Soled Shoes from Lightning Strike

At Cincinnati, Ohio, a pregnant women (Kelly Lough) along with her unborn child had survived an unsuspecting lightning strike that hit them. Fortunately, they had survived with the strong belief that it was due to Kelly's rubber-soled shoes that she was wearing at the time of the incident.

The lightning strike incident actually happened when Kelly was holding her umbrella trying to get her husband out from the car due to the heavy rainfall occurring at that period of time. Suddenly, a huge flash of light followed by a big boom had occurred but at the same time, she felt the jolt that went out from her left arm and out from her toes. Miraculously, nothing had happened to her but due to being shocked to just what she had experienced, she freaked out that she went running back into their house.

After the incident, both parents were concerned if their unborn child was okay. Thus, they immediately went into the hospital for a check-up. Gladly, after the doctors had examine Kelly's unborn baby, both of them were perfectly fine and healthy.

Did Kelly's rubber-soled shoes really saved her?

According to some investigators, Kelly wasn't probably directly struck by a lightning. Chances were, she was struck by a branch of lightning and not by the main bolt.

A Women Survived Lightning Strike Because of Her Rubber Flip Flops

Here is another story of a women who managed to survived a lightning strike due to the belief that her rubber flip flops saved her from the electrical discharge.

During a summer thunderstorm in Chippenham, Wiltshire, a 49 years old nurse (Jennifer Lyons) was struck by a powerful lightning consisting of about 300,000 volts of electricity. The most interesting part of the report was that, the victim had survived.

What actually happened from the incident was that, in the last Saturday afternoon of the summer thunderstorm, a powerful lightning had struck the satellite dish outside Jennifer's house. But at the same instance, she was using her mobile phones inside her bedroom. According to the investigators, the microwave signals being emitted from her phone had attracted the remaining lightning discharge to be diverted directly into her.

Based on Jennifer's statement, the bolt first struck her in the head but it didn't continued its way down to her foot because of the rubber soles (which acted as insulators) that she was wearing at that period of time. Without her rubber slippers, the chances of her survival was very low.

Since the lightning was estimated by the investigators to be about 300,000 volts, Jennifer's house especially her room got damaged. There were a lot of debris scattered around which were pieces of switches and outlets blown off from the walls.

But basing on scientific theory, the rubber slippers worn by Jennifer at the time that she was struck by lightning wasn't what really save her. There were probably other better conductors around her room that pulled the electrical discharge away from her body. This might had happened when the signal from her phone got cut-off. And, it may also be the reason why the discharge didn't continued down to her foot.

Furthermore, you have to know that the "air" itself is already a strong insulator. Considering this fact, an average lightning bolt can push its way miles into the surface of the Earth at an incredible speed. Due to this fact, it is quite impossible for a rubber slipper (or over a hundred feet thick rubber) to stop a lightning bolt. And as already mentioned above, people who have been struck by lightning got their shoes and clothes often got blown or torn into pieces.

Rubber Is An Insulator

An insulator is a type of material where it does not conduct or allow electrical current to pass through it. Rubber is one among this type of material but some people claims that it can repel lighting which is actually a wrong belief.

Assuming that if rubber does protect anyone from being struck by lightning then, why is it that there were already numerous victims of lightning strikes who were wearing their rubber boots and rain coats during a bad thunderstorm?

Overall, don't ever feel protected by simply wearing your raincoat and rubber boots while bravely travelling under a bad thunderstorm thinking that you are completely safe against lightning strikes. The best thing to do is to follow the Safety Rules in which among them is to take shelter or stay inside your house.