When lightning strikes the beach or desert, the electricity vaporizes the sand in less than a second, creating a geological phenomenon you might have to see to believe. The sand vaporizes as the ...

So far in this series, we’ve talked about man-made byproducts — Fordite, which is built-up layers of cured car enamel, and Trinitite, which was created during the first nuclear bomb test. A lovely ...

Lightning can leave destruction in its path in a matter of seconds, but it can also leave something beautiful behind known as fulgurite. When lightning strikes a sandy beach high in silica or quartz ...

It turns out there's a strange parallel between meteorite strikes and lightning (besides terrifying things coming out of the sky): both phenomena can, under the right conditions, create glass. That's ...

A study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters shows how 'fossilized' lightning strikes can be used to measure a rock surface's age and reconstruct thunderstorm activity in the ...

The analysis of the fulgurite revealed the presence of glass as well as cristobalite, a mineral with the same chemical composition of quartz but possessing a distinct crystal structure. Cristobalite ...

We all know lightning is powerful: It’s hot, it creates loud noise, and can certainly shock you... but there’s one aspect sought after by researchers and collectors alike, when that bolt hits the ...

When lightning strikes the beach or desert, the electricity vaporizes the sand in less than a second, creating a geological phenomenon you might have to see to believe. The sand vaporizes as the ...