Lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the sun

A bolt of lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the sun. The surface of the sun is about 5,500°C, while a lightning channel reaches 30,000°C in microseconds. That extreme heat makes air expand explosively, creating thunder. The rapid heating also splits nitrogen molecules, which then combine with oxygen to make nitrates that rain down as natural fertilizer. Before synthetic fertilizer, lightning fixed much of the soil's nitrogen. Each flash is both a 30,000°C plasma cutter and a farmhand feeding the planet from the sky.