1. What Is Lightning?: Lightning is a giant, super-heated flash of electricity that jumps between clouds or from a cloud down to the ground during a thunderstorm.

2. Hotter Than the Sun: Lightning is mind-bogglingly hot! A single bolt of lightning can reach temperatures of up to 50,000°F (27,700°C), which is five times hotter than the surface of the sun!

3. The Cause of Thunder: Thunder isn't made by clouds crashing together; it is actually the sound wave created when lightning instantly superheats the air around it, causing the air to expand and crackle like an explosion!

4. Seeing the Flash First: Light travels through the air much faster than sound. That is why you always see the bright flash of lightning before you hear the loud rumble of thunder, even though they happen at the exact same time.

5. Hitting the Same Spot Twice: It is a myth that lightning never strikes the same place twice! Tall skyscrapers, towers, and mountain peaks get struck by lightning multiple times every single year because they are the highest points around.

6. Blazing Fast Speeds: Lightning strikes in the blink of an eye—actually, much faster than that! A bolt of lightning can zip from a cloud to the ground in just a tiny fraction of a second, moving at about 220,000 miles per hour.

7. Painting Glass in the Sand: When a powerful bolt of lightning strikes sandy ground, the intense heat instantly melts the sand and fuses it together into a hollow, glassy glass tube called a fulgurite (or petrified lightning).