eli5 Why is lightning purple? As opposed to how electricity usually appears yellow.
In: Physics
When electricity goes through air it creates ions and releases light. This is called corona discharge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_discharge
The purple flavor is from excited N2 (ionized air glow). Nitrogen makes up a large portion of our air.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionized-air_glow
I’ve never seen this as yellow…
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