Lightning is extremely powerful, but because it happens in just a fraction of a second and is so hot, we do not use it as a power source. what if we could? let’s figure out how long the energy from a lightning strike could power something. assumptions: assume the lightning strike contains a total of 10 billion joules (10,000,000,000 joules). 1 kwh = 3.6*106 joules. a kilowatt-hour (kwh) is a unit of energy and is equal to a 1000w * 1 hour
1. i am typing this question on a macbook pro. its battery will last 10 hours and it consumes 20 watts of power while it is on. if i could store all the energy in a lightning strike and use it to repeatedly charge my macbook pro battery, how many total hours of use could i get out of one lightning strike’s worth of energy?
2. in reality, only 1% of the total energy from a strike is electrical. so if i could only store 1% of the total energy in the lightning strike, how many total hours of use could i get out of one lightning strike to power my macbook pro?
3. a common question about lightning power is “how long can a lightning strike power a 60w lightbulb? ” if you could use all 10 billion joules from the lightning strike, how long could it power a light bulb?
4. the led technology has revolutionized lighting by reducing the total power needed to produce the equivalent light from a 60w lightning bulb. if an led light bulb only needs 8w to produce the same amount of light as a 60w incandescent bulb, how long can all the energy from a lightning strike power an led bulb?