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How many electron volts power the release of a large lightning bolt?

Asked by ETpro (34605points) September 12th, 2010

The Large Hadron Collider has a maximum power of 7 trillion Electron Volts. How does that compare to the energy level of a large bolt of lightning released in nature?

I understand that you can’t draw conclusions about what each would be capable of doing simply by comparing their electron volt levels. THe LHC is arguably the most complex machine ever built by man, and includes a massive amount of hardware designed to harness the incredible power of 7 teV and do something quite interesting with that power. But still, I am curious about the energy level comparison. I tried a Google search and even when using boolean operators to exclude “car” and other keyword dragging me to corporate sites and advertising, most of what came up was about the Lightning car company and its 700hp Lightning GT EV.:Oh Google—how the mighty have fallen. Don’t be evil—unless there’s good money in it.

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