Science & nature
A lightning bolt is about five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
The air in a lightning channel is heated to around 30,000 degrees Celsius in a few millionths of a second. The surface of the Sun is about 5,500 degrees.
Why is this true?
The sudden heating makes the air expand explosively, and that shock wave is thunder. Lightning strikes the Earth roughly 40 to 50 times every second.
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Science and nature supply facts that feel like they break the rules until you see the mechanism. Hot water freezing before cold, glass that flows, lightning hotter than the surface of the Sun. Each entry keeps the physics or chemistry short and readable, states plainly where the effect is still debated, and links to a source for anyone who wants the full derivation rather than the headline.