Nick: Thanks.. You learn something new every day.. I thought cloud to cloud
would have been the most common, followed by cloud to ground, followed by
ground to cloud.. But you are right, electrons can flow in either direction.
In the Air Force almost all our equipment had a Positive ground on the
batteries..Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Niclas Runarsson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 2:55 PM
Subject: Re: [VFB] Boating Safety Question
Chuck,
It depends on the part of the cloud. The most common thundercloud has one
negative pole and one positive pole. The ground-to-cloud bolt goes between
the negative part of the cloud and the positive charge sent out by objects
on the ground as the negative package approaches the ground.
Leaving what I learned in school and going further with help from a
magazine, I want to correct "up-down depends on balance in charge"
(obviously misinformed in school):
The cloud-to-ground thundercloud is a three-part cloud...
positive-negative-positive. A cloud-to-ground bolt is simply the exact
opposite. It goes between the upper positive charged part of the cloud down
to the negative ground. TOTALLY it's less common than the ground-to-cloud
since it needs to be closer to the ground (so they are more common in places
with higher altitude).
/Nick
-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] För
Chuck Alexander
Skickat: den 11 juli 2007 16:27
Till: [email protected]
Ämne: Re: [VFB] Boating Safety Question
Nick: Yesterday, we were going to the library, and on the way we were hit by
a severe thunderstorm... The charge in the air makes the hair on your arms
stand up..I didn't understand all you said LOL (I'm old don't ya know) but
electricity if is the flow of electrons, flowing from the negative to the
positive right???? So, depending on where the positive charge is ie the
earth, or in the air, is the direction the lightening bolt will travel???
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Niclas Runarsson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: [VFB] Boating Safety Question
The lightning bolt is a single DC hit. It goes from one side to the other
with the purpose to equalize the difference in charge. If the sides aren't
equalized after it, another one will follow the same path, but it's still
coming from the same direction. Up or down is only depending on the balance
of the charge.
This ion trail is a very small charge and isn't visible to the eye (and can
definitely not zap something out of your hand). It's searching for the other
side, leaving a path of electrons (the trail). When reached, the positive
charged bolt follows this path, picking up the electrons on it's way from
plus to minus. This is why the lightning bolts tend to have "branches" from
the sides. In its search, the negative charge travels through the ways with
lowest resistance. If this way splits, then so does also the search. But
even though the new low resistance ways maybe don't lead anywhere, they will
still be full of electrons, which the bolt will pick up when it travels
through the "highway". The bolt can be seen as a picture of the entire
search.
The feeling you had about having static electricity everywhere, was probably
related to trails though. The searching ion trailer is met by trailers
rising from the other side... and it's when these find eachother and shake
hands that the way for the bolt is finalized. Having this feeling of static
electricity should be taken seriously, as this probably means that you're
sending out these meeting trails. If you are the tallest object sending them
out, you might get burned.
/Nick
-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] För
DonO
Skickat: den 10 juli 2007 22:50
Till: [email protected]
Ämne: Re: [VFB] Boating Safety Question
Nick,
Lightning is AC/DC- it goes both ways. The vast majority if strikes here
are from air to ground, then within the storm (not reaching ground), then
from ground to air. Out west we get thunderheads of incredible height,
bringing hail the size of baseballs, and hundreds of lightning strikes.
I got caught out once in prairie-land at a trout lake. Storm was coming and
everyhthing around us seemed to be filled with static electricity. I tried
to drop my rod from the side of the truck and an arc jumped out 4" and
zapped the tar out of my hand. I have always wondered if this was the
precursor to a real strike, them little ions telling the bolt which was the
easiest way.
DonO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Niclas Runarsson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 9:31 AM
Subject: Re: [VFB] Boating Safety Question
"Lightning is an arc that's looking for the path of least resistance to
ground. Thus, it looks for a conductor that offers less resistance than
air."
Actually, the lightning itself is a lazy guy, as it doesn't look for
anything. It's just following an Ion trail (lower resistance than air), that
has already found the easiest way and "rolled out the red carpet" for him...
coming from the opposite direction.
Nick
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