Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How lightning makes ozone nearby and rain smells
A lightning channel splits oxygen, and some of it reforms as ozone you can smell nearby.
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From the opening
Lightning makes ozone because the channel is hot enough to split ordinary oxygen molecules, and some of the free atoms recombine as ozone, the three-atom form of oxygen. Near a strike that ozone is part of the sharp smell in the air, while the softer smell of rain on dry ground is a different mixture that can arrive in the same hour. The opening covers the channel splits oxygen molecules, some atoms reform as ozone, and nitrogen oxides are a different product.
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Inside
- The channel splits oxygen molecules
- Some atoms reform as ozone
- Nitrogen oxides are a different product
- The earthy smell is not the ozone
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Ozone formation in lightning channels
- Schönbein's identification of the odor of ozone