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NORMAL (Oct. 23, 2010)—These are rush photos from the marching band festival at the football stadium, Illinois State University. Photos will be presented as they are prepared, with each batch containing a class. These are from Class 3A: Lemont High School, Kaneland High School, Antioch High School, Rock Island High School, Marian Catholic High School, and Bloomington High Schoool. During Lemont's performance, thunder could be heard, a sure sign that there is lightning. According to the National Weather Service, lightning doesn't always cause thunder (a story is told of five lightning bolts observed at the Washington Monument in April 1885 that created no sound of thunder), but thunder is 100 percent of the time caused by lightning. Actually, the Library of Congress Web site says the following: As lightning connects to the ground from the clouds, a second stroke of lightning will return from the ground to the clouds, following the same channel as the first strike. The heat from the electricity of this return stroke raises the temperature of the surrounding air to around 27,000 °C (48,632 °F). Since the lightning takes so little time to go from point A to point B, the heated air has no time to expand. The heated air is compressed, raising the air from 10 to 100 times the normal atmospheric pressure. The compressed air explodes outward from the channel, forming a shock wave of compressed particles in every direction. Like an explosion, the rapidly expanding waves of compressed air create a loud, booming burst of noise. Yet, Kaneland was allowed onto the field immediately following Lemont's performance. Following Kaneland, festival officials acted to protect the safety of student musicians and band fans, calling a weather delay that lasted about two and a half hours before Antioch's band took the field to resume Class 3A. My deepest apologies to Lemont and Kaneland for not getting more photos, but a camera, like a metal instrument, is basically my own personal lightning rod, and what good would I be as a photographer if lightning struck me? And my deepest congratulations to Marian Catholic High School, under the direction of Greg Bimm and Bobby Lambert, grand champions of the entire festival.
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