The Säntis Tower, atop Mount Säntis in Switzerland
Toma Oregal-Chaumont, Antonio Sunjerga, Pasa Hettiarachchi, et al.
Lightning can shoot upwards from tall towers – and researchers now know that it produces X-rays at the very starting of its ascent into the clouds.
During a thunderstorm, completely different components of a cloud change into positively and negatively charged. This separation of cost throughout the cloud leads to a dramatic electrical discharge that manifests as a column of sizzling ionised gasoline and electrons, or plasma, reaching for the floor: a lightning strike.
But when charged-up clouds hover over a tall construction made …