What is "lightning"

electric current \electric current\, electrical current \electrical current\, the movement of electrically charged particles, atoms, or ions, through solids, liquids, gases, or free space; the term is usually used of relatively smooth movements of electric charge through conductors, whether constant or variable. Sudden movements of charge are usually referred to by other terms, such as spark or lightning or discharge. In metallic conductors the electric current is usually due to movement of electrons through the metal. The current is measured as the rate of movement of charge per unit time, and is counted in units of amperes. As a formal definition, the direction of movement of electric current is considered as the same as the direction of movement of positive charge, or in a direction opposite to the movement of negative charge. Electric current may move constantly in a single direction, called direct current (abbreviated DC), or may move alternately in one direction and then the opposite direction, called alternating current (abbreviated AC).

late 13c., present participle of lightnen "make bright," extended form of Old English lihting, from leht (see light (n.)). Meaning "cheap, raw whiskey" is attested from 1781, also sometimes "gin." Lightning bug is attested from 1778. Lightning rod from 1790.

1. 1 Extremely fast or sudden. 2 Moving at the speed of lightning. n. 1 A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth. 2 A discharge of this kind. 3 (context figuratively English) Anything that moves very fast. 4 The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers. v

2. (context impersonal childish or nonstandard English) To produce lightning.

1. n. abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light

2. the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more

Lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge during an electrical storm between electrically charged regions of a cloud (called intra-cloud lightning or IC), between that cloud and another cloud (CC lightning), or between a cloud and the ground (CG lightning). The charged regions in the atmosphere temporarily equalize themselves through this discharge referred to as a strike if it hits an object on the ground, and a flash, if it occurs within a cloud. Lightning causes light in the form of plasma, and sound in the form of thunder. Lightning may be seen and not heard when it occurs at a distance too great for the sound to carry as far as the light from the strike or flash.

Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity.

Lightning or Lightnin may also refer to:

The Lightning is a sloop rigged sailing dinghy originally designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens in 1938 and was first sailed on Skaneateles Lake, Skaneateles, NY, USA. More than 15,000 Lightnings have been built since then. There are over 500 fleets of Lightnings worldwide, many of which participate in dinghy racing.

Awarded ISAF International Class status, the Lightning is sailed in more than 13 countries and in the Pan American Games, and the class provides a professionally managed association that is among the largest in all of one-design sailing. A World Championship is held every two years. North American, South American and European Championships are held each year as are innumerable regional and District championships.

There is room in the cockpit for four to daysail, but a crew of three is employed when racing. On most racing teams, the skipper helms the boat and handles the mainsail. The front crew on a racing team handles the jib upwind and is responsible for spinnaker pole handling downwind. When racing, a middle crew is relied upon for trimming the spinnaker downwind and has boat balance as a primary responsibility upwind.

The Lightning's rig is simple, but offers sophisticated sail shape controls. The hull features a hard chine design that combines the stability that provides sail-carrying power, with flat bottom sections that promote planing. The Lightning's hard chine and 130 lb centerboard give her the stability and power of a small keel boat going to weather in strong winds and allow her to carry a very large spinnaker for breathtaking offwind rides.

At 700 pounds (318 kg), length of 19'0" (5.8 m) and beam of 6'6" (2 m), the Lightning is easily trailered. Draft with the centerboard down is 4'11" (151.3 cm) and 5" (12.8 cm) with the centerboard raised.

The International Lightning Class Association (ILCA) protects the boat's design and licenses custom and private builders to build boats under its administration.

Lightnings can compete in mixed-fleet handicap racing with a D-PN of 87.0.

Lightning, in comics, may refer to:

• Lightning (DC Comics), a DC Comics character
• Lightning, one of the duo Thunder and Lightning
• Lightning, a member of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

It may also refer to:

• Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash, a DC Comics character, one of the new Forever People

Lightning is a novel by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 1988. A 2003 reprinting includes a new afterword by the author, discussing editorial politics.

The Lightning project, announced on December 22, 2004, and developed by the Mozilla Foundation, produces an extension that adds calendar and scheduling functionality to the Mozilla Thunderbird mail and newsgroup client and SeaMonkey internet suite. Lightning is an iCalendar compatible calendar.

Unlike the discontinued Mozilla Sunbird and Mozilla Calendar extension, Lightning integrates tightly with Thunderbird.

Lightning is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows, OS X and Linux, and is installed by default on Thunderbird.

Lightning is a steel inverted roller coaster located at Kuwait Entertainment City in Kuwait City. The ride opened in 2004 and was built by Swiss manufacturers Bolliger & Mabillard. Lightning's layout is identical to that of the Batman: The Ride clone that appears in many Six Flags parks in the United States.

Lightning (Jennifer Pierce) is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. A member of the Justice Society of America, she is the youngest daughter of Black Lightning and sister of the heroine Thunder. The current version of Lightning debuted in Justice Society of America vol. 3 #12 (March 2008), and was re-envisioned by Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham.

is a 1952 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Mikio Naruse. It is based on a novel by Fumiko Hayashi.

The film won 1953 Blue Ribbon Awards for best director (Mikio Naruse), best film (Mikio Naruse) and for best supporting actress Chieko Nakakita. It also won Mainichi Film Concours for best film score by Ichirō Saitō and again for best supporting actress Chieko Nakakita.

is a fictional character from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. She first appeared as a playable character and protagonist in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy XIII, in which she features as a resident of the artificial world of Cocoon. After her sister Serah is declared an enemy of Cocoon, Lightning attempts to save her: she and others are then chosen by the fal'Cie, a divided race of demigods who rule the worlds of Gran Pulse and Cocoon, to destroy Cocoon. Lightning reappears as a supporting character in Final Fantasy XIII-2, acting as protector of the Goddess Etro. She is the sole playable character in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, wherein she sets out to save her world, which is destined to end in thirteen days. She has featured in other Final Fantasy games, most notably the crossover game Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Lightning was created by Motomu Toriyama, the director and scenario writer of XIII, and designed by Tetsuya Nomura, a regular character artist for the Final Fantasy series. Their idea was to create a strong female protagonist who was adept at combat and less feminine than previous Final Fantasy heroines. Aspects of her early design and personality were later altered, or transferred to other characters. After XIII, Lightning's design was revised several times to reflect her role and development in each game, particularly in Lightning Returns. Her name in Japanese, , was originally a placeholder. Because of its similarity to the name of a pastry, her first name was changed to "Claire" in other countries.

Lightning has received mixed commentary from critics—much of it relating to her cold personality, which was compared to that of Final Fantasy VII's protagonist Cloud Strife. She was criticized for her relative absence in XIII-2. Her role in Lightning Returns had a mixed reception: some critics saw her as underdeveloped and unlikable, while others found her better developed and more human than in previous games. Lightning later appeared on lists, compiled by video game publications, of the best characters in the Final Fantasy series and in video games as a whole. She has been received favorably in polls of public opinion by Famitsu, Square Enix, and other organizations.

Lightning was a German shepherd from a line of canine silent film stars. A grandson of Strongheart, Lightning was billed as "The Wonder Dog" and "The Marvel Dog". He began life as a runt but grew to be larger than average for the breed, and he was very intelligent. Lightning appeared in numerous movies.

Lightning'' (German:Wetterleuchten'') is a 1925 German silent drama film directed by Rudolf Walther-Fein.

The film's art direction was by Botho Hoefer and Bernhard Schwidewski

Lightning was a wooden roller coaster that operated at Revere Beach in Revere, Massachusetts from 1927 until 1933. It was one of the infamous Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters which were constructed by noted roller coaster engineer Harry G. Traver in the mid-1920s (the rides were, in fact, anything but safe, and became known as the "terrifying triplets"). Lightning was the only Giant Cyclone Safety Coaster not to bear the "Cyclone" name, as a roller coaster named Cyclone already existed at Revere Beach when Lightning was constructed in 1927. The other two members of this group of coasters included the Crystal Beach Cyclone and the Palisades Park Cyclone (A fourth Traver roller coaster named Zip had a similar—but smaller—design and was installed at Oaks Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon).

"Lightning" is a song by British-Irish boy band The Wanted, taken as the third single from their second studio album, Battleground. It was released on 16 October 2011. The song was written by Steve Mac, Wayne Hector and Ed Drewett, the same team responsible for the band's number-one single, " Glad You Came". The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart, behind Rihanna's " We Found Love". The single was originally intended for release in the United States, following the success of " Glad You Came", and a promotional remix single was issued, however, its release was cancelled.

Lightning was a neighborhood just west of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, north of the former extension of Magnolia Street, south of Simpson St. (now Joseph E. Boone Blvd.) and east of Northside Drive ( US 41). It was razed to make way mostly for the expansion of the Georgia World Congress Center as well as the north end of the Georgia Dome .

As of 1975, east-west streets in Lighting were, from north to south: Simpson St. (northern border), Tyler St., Rock St., Mayes St., Thurmond St. Newton St., Foundry St., Magnolia St. (southern border) North-south streets in Lightning were, from west to east: Northside Dr. (western border), Haynes St., Mangum St., Elliott St. (eastern border).

Lightning is a proprietary computer bus and power connector created by Apple Inc. Introduced on to replace its predecessor, the 30-pin dock connector, the Lightning connector is used to connect Apple mobile devices like iPhones, iPads and iPods to host computers, external monitors, cameras, USB battery chargers and other peripherals. Using 8 pins instead of 30, Lightning is significantly more compact than the 30-pin dock connector and can be inserted with either side facing up. However, unless used with an adapter, it is incompatible with cables and peripherals designed for its predecessor.

Lightning is the fourth studio album from the indie pop duo Matt & Kim, written, produced, performed and recorded by them in their New York apartment between January and July 2012, using Logic Pro. The ten-track set is an electronic indie pop album which member Matt Johnson described as being upbeat, while on some tracks being a little darker. The group decided "to do as little possible to the songs production-wise and still have them be strong" unlike their previous studio project Sidewalks.

Lightning was released on October 2, 2012, and was promoted with an autumn tour, a giveaway, and a 2013 remix album. Although Lightning sold well enough to reach number 50 on the Billboard 200 among a few other US Billboard charts, it was met with a varied critical reception, holding an aggregate score of 59 out of 100 from Metacritic as of March 2014. Some reviewers criticized the lack of introduction of any new type of music, unlike Sidewalks, while other's thought the album was an improvement from the previous album.