Originally posted by QUALTHWAR
The name of the forum is “show off” your bla bla…. so…..
Actually, I like to discuss science, and educate people if I can. No reason this board has to be limited to who wears their underwear on their head and who is “ghey.” Right?
Yes, I am a scientist, so what spills out will most likely sound like a scientific paper.
It’s the return stroke, the flash, that travels from ground to cloud. The discharge happens from cloud to ground. I don’t remember how I phrased it; I might have phrased it wrong. The forked branches of the bolt begin to discharge one at a time, which causes the flickering we see.
Another thing that people get wrong is the fact that there is no such thing as “heat lightning.” Lightning is lightning. That’s it. People just see lightning very far off in the clouds, and since they can’t hear anything, they think it’s something else besides the normal lightning that they do see and hear.
Oh, well. OK, so showing off is the thread's purpose. But why didn't you just come out with your knowledge instead of following me after? Has an air of correction to me. I am no expert on lightning, but if you think otherwise, maybe you can explain things more instead of throwing terms out? That is what I meant with scientific article. All very smooth an such. I am no great one for terms, especially not english. I present how I understand it, and I find some of your explanations uninformative. I don't really see the ground-air lightning. How is that supposed to work? I mean the basics.
As for the discharges... I think I can offer a different explanation. The different branches do not connect all at the same time. In the moment of the connection there is a rapid increase in the current and the shockwave effectively destroys the branch as described above. But the discharges have to happen within a very short time interval, or the main channel will collapse before the other charges occur. This is really guessing, but actually, most Lightnings I've seen in reality and pictured show one main branch with many (more or less) small side branches. I believe this is because it is more likely for only a single branch really to connect to the earth than it is for several. The first strike destroys the channel of ionized air from ground to cloud and therefore cuts off the other branches before they can connect, so they never really become a full-power strike.
Oh. Maybe I should've read the page before writing. I'll let my thoughts stand though 'cos they aren't really far apart. But it seems either you misunderstood the explanation on the page or I misunderstood you. Tha page says the electrons in the other branches flow 'back' to the branch that actually connected and then throught it
to earth. The following secondary strikes happen because the condictivity along the path of the first strike is still very high so a lower potential can caause a strike along this path very easily. The page also agrees with me about the invisiblity of what I called 'Initial bolt' - for the rest there are some things I disagree with but this may be just sloppy expression 'cos I notice the whole page is a bit on the unclear side. WTF is meant by "the ionized air travelling" ?? The ionized air may expand a bit, but it reamins in place more or less, or else the lightning would be less localized.
But the page made clear electrons flow from the air to the ground, heating up and ionizing the air thus increasing conductivity, and when step leader and streamer connect, it's like a closed circuit - the sudden strong current heats the air even more and
FLASH - BOOOM 
so I think I agree more with the page than with your post as I understood it... as I said, it may be a misunderstanding between you'n'me or you'n'page
Ah, well. The "highest point hit" legend. I find the explanation on the page doesn't really explain anything. The reason I call principle of smallest effect - the electrons will take the 'easiest' path to a positive charge. The height is a factor, but not the only one. A high isolator will greatly increase friction along the path so it's not too likely to attract a bolt I guess. Also remember the great distance between cloud and ground. What we percieve as high is next to nothing. And you also gotta take other factors into account, like horizontal space between origin and possible strike spot, and maybe even the limited speed of electrons. The move a way along the 'perfect' path, and then changes in the conductivity of the surrounding air occur, so they gotta go along a new way. So in the end a path may not really be perfect at all. But the electrons didn't know before, and once the air is ionized, the channel created be the step leader is better than any other path.
Uhh... what I wanted to say is that height is one of many reasons why a certain path could be best besides which hich points often have a
point. Sharp edges, remember? trees, towers and lightning rods are certainly favourites, and from what I head (and I watch science shows too
) they really are.
Ah, last not least
heat lightning
I ain't sure we're talking about the same but in German, we call it "Wärmegewitter" and
of course it's normal lightning. Just the environmental conditions are different 'cos it happens on a dry day. Heat lightning is said to be much stronger than normal lightning, which makes sense to me - on a dry day the conductivity of the air is surely much lower so a higher potantial (and therefore charge) has to build up before lightning occurs. So the lighning is in effect stronger. And this is what I believe heat lightning means, but remember - I am German. Maybe you talk about something different entirely, as your post seems to suggest.
So, call me show-off and prove me wrong, but I require evidence. Most of my posts are my own thoughts inspired by sloppy and unsatisfying explanations.
