What the hell is a gigawatt?!
Out of context: Reply #4
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- georgesIII0
Lightning leader development is not just a matter of the electrical breakdown of air, which is about 3 megavolts per meter (MV/m). The ambient electric fields required for lightning leader propagation can be one or two orders of magnitude (10−2) less than the electrical breakdown strength. The potential ("voltage") gradient inside a well-developed return-stroke channel is on the order of hundreds of volts per meter (V/m) due to intense channel ionization, resulting in a true power output on the order of one megawatt per meter (MW/m) for a vigorous return stroke current of 100 kA.[15] The average peak power output of a single lightning stroke is about one trillion watts — one "terawatt" (1012 W), and the stroke lasts for about 30 millionths of a second — 30 "microseconds".[16]