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Science Bowl Question

📅 NSB 2013🎓 HS🔄 Round 1#️⃣ Q14🌟 BONUS✍️ Short Answer

The breakdown electric field of air is approximately 3 million volts per meter. Assuming that lightning moves uniformly through a cylinder of air with a cross-sectional area of 1 square meter and providing your answer in scientific notation with one significant digit, if a typical storm cloud is at an altitude of 2,000 meters and the resistivity of air is about 10 ohm-meters at breakdown, what is the current in amperes of a cloud-to-cloud lightning strike?

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