Question

A lightning bolt transfers 6.0 coulombs of charge from a cloud to the ground in 2.0 x 10-3 second. what is the average current during this event?

Answer 1

The current is defined as the amount of charge transferred through a certain point in a certain time interval:

`I= (Q)/(\Delta t)`
where
I is the current
Q is the charge

`\Delta t` is the time interval

For the lightning bolt in our problem, Q=6.0 C and
`\Delta t= 2.0 \cdot 10^(-3)s`, so the average current during the event is

`I= (Q)/(\Delta t) = (6.0 C)/(2.0 \cdot 10^(-3) s)=3000 A`