The characteristics of the powerful EMI source - lighting current are mainly studied. Firstly,the pulse function is used as the analytical expression of the 2. 6 /50 μs lightning current,and then this expression is compared with the lighting current expressed by double - exponential function for explaining its usability. Secondly,the Fourier transform and simulation are adopted to research the amplitude - frequency characteristic and the energy content of lightning current,and the relevant spectrum diagram and the energy distribution are obtained. Finally,through the analysis,the conclusion is gotten that the frequency of lighting current belongs to the low frequency rang and its energy mainly concentrates between 1 ~ 10 kHz. If the pulse of lightning current arises faster,the amplitude of frequency component will be smaller,but the more high - frequency components are contained.