Lightning-like discharge

P. Boschung, W. Hilgner, G. Luttgens, B. Maurer, and A. Wider, An Experimental Contribution to the Question of the Existence of Lightning-Like Discharges in Dust Clouds, Journal of Electrostatics (1977), 3 303-310. 

Lightning-like discharges are prevented by keeping the vessel volume to less than 60 m3 or the vessel diameter to less than 3 m. If this condition is not met, then the system needs to be inerted. 

Lightning-like discharges can occur between a charged cloud of dust and a grounded object. According to [35] it is unlikely that such discharges occur in technical plants. 

A third method of generation of energy is electrical - much like the discharge of static electricity. This method may manifest itself as heat, as produced in an electrical heater, as arcing in an electrical motor or in a "short" circuit, or as the tremendous amount of energy released as lightning. 

The earth s early atmosphere was rich in CH4, H2, CO2, CO, NH3, N2, and H2S, and contained no O2. In the late 1940s Miller and Urey showed that lightning discharges in such a gas mixture could produce small amino acid-like and other organic molecules that could be the organic precursors needed for life. The next question is how do these molecules polymerize to larger molecules ... 

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