ELi5: How does lightning produce light, and how does that light differ from sunlight?

Question

ELi5: How does lightning produce light, and how does that light differ from sunlight?

In: 8

Answer 1

Lightning produces light due to a process called incandescence. Essentially, when lightning comes down it creates a channel of conductive plasma within the air. The heat flow within this channel heats up the air rapidly to about 50,000 degrees fahrenheit. These air temperatures cause a process called incandescence to the point where the molecules in the air emit light.

Sunlight works differently as in it’s a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the sun, in particular infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light.

TLDR; Lightning produces light through the rapid heating of air molecules, where as sunlight comes from sun radiation.