General Question

Ltryptophan's avatar

Why is lightning jagged instead of smooth?

Asked by Ltryptophan (12091points) November 27th, 2019
8 responses
“Great Question” (6points)

Why doesn’t lightning make curves on its path?

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Answers

ragingloli's avatar

“The propagation of the lightning channel follows a path of the least resistance, which is not a straight but a zig-zag line because impurity or moisture in the atmosphere causes the air to be ionized in different directions. Sometimes the lightning channel finds more than one conductive path and branches out, giving lightning its forked appearance.”

Source

stanleybmanly's avatar

And curved lines are not the path of least resistance

Patty_Melt's avatar

I’ve seen lightning curvy, ball lightning, and snow lightning, which is just a momentary shapeless glow, and the thunder says, “poof”.

Patty_Melt's avatar

Some crazy strikes

Ball lightning

Snow lightning

I’ve also seen this but it is much more impressive seen first hand and up close.

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