What does it smell like when lightning hits a tree?

Question

What does it smell like when lightning hits a tree?

Answer 1

A burning wood smell and an odd electrical ozone smell...very unpleasant...

Answer 2

Remember that when a tree is struck by lightning it usually catches fire. That's the heat in the lightning bolt.

Sometimes a smell of ozone is in the air after a lightning strike. Ozone is a form of oxygen in a different configuration than the one we're used to . So much power is dumped into the air that it actually rips air molecules apart and rearranges them.

I hope this helps...

Answer 3

Happens to me every year.

It honestly smells like fresh wood chips. Its a very unatural smell.

Answer 4

It smells like sulfur or a metallic kind of smell.

Answer 5

I've been in places a couple of times when lightning has struck a tree or trees.

In one case, the true caught fire and I was able to put it out with a garden hose. naturally, it smelled like burned wood, but also had the smell of ozone.

The second time I saw a strike, the tree had the same ozone smell very strongly for a few minutes.

You have to remember that lightning contains hundreds of thousands or even millions of volts of static electricity. When it hits wood, the air around the strike is displaced rapidly; (in less than a second). This causes the air around the strike to heat rapidly and then the air molecules are actually burned almost instantly. This is what causes the ozone smell.