When lightning strikes, current or discharge flows through the lightning channel. It heats the channel to very high temperatures and seen as brightly illuminated. This heating causes a rapid expansion of surrounding air and is the source of sound waves we hear as thunder.
A typical lightning discharge involves a potential difference between a cloud and the ground of several hundred million volts, with peak currents on the order of 20,000 amperes. Temperatures in the channel are on the order of 30,000 degrees K or 29,727 C (50,000º F). The entire process is very rapid; a bolt reaches the ground in about 20 milliseconds.
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