system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What happens to all of the energy in a lightning bolt when it strikes the Earth?
gpt
First of all the energy isn't "in" the bolt, the bolt is a sort of temporary wire between the earth and a cloud.  The energy is in the imbalance of charge between the cloud and earth.  A lot of the energy goes into ionizing the air.  It takes a lot of voltage to separate electrons from the molecules in the air.  Once the air is sufficiently ionized for a plasma channel to form energy goes into accelerating charge carriers and resistive heat loss.  The current in this plasma also radiates energy in the form of electromagnetic waves (including the visible white-purple flash from the extremely hot plasma) and air pressure waves (thunder) due to the rapid heating.  Once sufficient energy has been lost the air deionizes which results in a little bit more heat and possibly some more em radiation.