Abstract
In this paper, we demonstrate the temperature of lightning channel utilizing the theory of lightning spectra and the model of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). The impulse current generator platform (ICGS) was used to simulate the lightning discharge channel, and the spectral energy of infrared spectroscopy (930 nm) and the visible spectroscopy (648.2 nm) of the simulated lightning has been calculated. Results indicate that the peaks of luminous intensity of both infrared and visible spectra increase with the lightning current intensity in range of 5–50 kA. Based on the results, the temperature of the lightning channel is derived to be 6140.8–10424 K. Moreover, the temperature of the channel is approximately exponential to the lightning current intensity, which shows good agreement with that of the natural lightning cases.
Highlights
In this paper, we demonstrate the temperature of lightning channel utilizing the theory of lightning spectra and the model of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE)
It is related to the formation and development of the lightning channel[1,2], and the parameter testing of lightning channel is a basic issue for detection[3,4], warning and protective[5,6], etc
There are massive plasmas assembling in the lightning channel whose peak temperatures reach over 10000 K, which is caused by the transient lightning discharge
Summary
The atomic ionization exists in gas when the absolute temperature is not 0 K, which means that there exist other charged particles besides the neutral particles. The lower excited state of NII dominates the lightning channel plasmas, the temperature range being in 2 × 104 K~3 × 104 K, ΔE being in 10 eV~30 eV. Based on equation (1), the plasmas satisfy the LTE condition in the channel when the electron density range from 1017 to 1018 cm−3. According to the corresponding characteristics of the lightning spectrum, it is required to ensure the electron density in the return stroke channel that the lightning channel is optically thin. Based on the atom spectrum theory, the charged particles in lower energy state would be excited to higher energy state. In the LTE condition, it is assumed that the neutral atom in the channel is in a state of excitation when the lightning channel is at a certain temperature. Based on the Boltzmannformula, the number of particles in each excited state is
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