Lightning is the most spectacular element of a thunderstorm. In fact it is how thunderstorms got their name. Lightning is a giant spark. A single stroke of lightning can heat the air around it to 30,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 degrees Farhenheit)! This extreme heating causes the air to expand at an explosive rate. The expansion creates a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, better known as thunder. Thus the name thunderstorm. Lightning can take place in several different areas of a thunderstorm. About 80% of all lightning occurs within a single cloud. Most of the other 20% occurs from cloud to ground. Sometimes lightning can jump from one cloud to another or to the surrounding air. Most of the lightning we see appears as a single line of bright white light. However, there are several other types of lightning that can occur. These include forked lightning, ribbon lightning, bead lightning, ball lightning, sheet lightning, and heat lightning.

DESIGN:

The technology used for the AM demodulator (see figure above) will be based upon the monolithic linear integrated circuit LA1800. This device is an FM/AM single chip radio. I am using only the AM portion of the device. Although future versions will contain a fully equipped FM/AM radio in combination with the hand held detector. The input to the LA1800 will come from the lightning strikes waveform created by the sudden release of energy. This signal will be demodulated and then passed to the half-wave rectifier. The positive portion of the signal will be used as the input to the control stage of the detector. For additional information on the LA1800 see attached data sheet. The power supply for the AM detector circuit uses a 3 volt battery.

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