Editing Lightning (section)

==== To nature ====
[[File: Explosionsartiger Dampfdruck zwischen Stamm und Rinde vom Blitzeinschlag sprengte Birkenrinde weg.jpg|thumb|Bark blown off of a Birch tree via explosive steam pressure between the trunk and bark from a lightning strike]]
[[File:Black walnut lightning strike.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|A strike mark on the trunk of a [[black walnut]] tree in [[Oklahoma]]]]
Objects struck by lightning experience heat and magnetic forces of great magnitude. Consequently:
* The heat created by lightning currents travelling through a tree may vaporize its sap, causing a steam explosion that rips off bark or even bursts the trunk.
* Similarly water in a fractured rock may be rapidly heated such that it splits further apart.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foss, Kanina, ''New evidence on lightning strikes'' University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Press release, 15 October 2013 |url=http://www.wits.ac.za/newsroom/newsitems/201310/21737/news_item_21737.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005162551/http://www.wits.ac.za/newsroom/newsitems/201310/21737/news_item_21737.html |archive-date=October 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Knight |first1=Jasper |last2=Grab |first2=Stefan W. |year=2014 |title=Lightning as a geomorphic agent on mountain summits: Evidence from southern Africa |journal=Geomorphology |volume=204 |pages=61–70 |bibcode=2014Geomo.204...61K |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.07.029}}</ref>
* A struck tree may catch fire, or a [[forest fires|forest fire]] may be started. See also ''fire lightning'' below.
* As lightning travels through sandy soil, the soil surrounding the [[plasma channel]] may melt, forming tubular structures called [[fulgurite]]s.