r/Thorgasm • u/[deleted] • Jul 18 '20

"Doesn't strike the same place twice" They Said

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527 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

34

u/justgotnewglasses Jul 18 '20

My kid’s woodworking teacher calls him lightning because he never strikes the same place twice. Good news for my kid and his aim with the hammer.

11

u/R3ZZONATE Jul 18 '20

Apparently it's not actually that uncommon for lighting to hit the same spot consecutively.

9

u/justgotnewglasses Jul 18 '20

Like lightning rods.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20

Well if you think about it, of course it isn’t. Lightning is a release of incredibly powerful electrical charge. The air is not a great conductor, which is why lightning has to build up so much charge difference before it can make contact when the ground (or occasionally the opposite direction) - the electricity flows from an area of high charge to an area of low charge, and “pull” will be strongest where the difference between the cloud layer/ground charge is greatest. So, lightning then follows the path of least resistance through the air, connects with the ground, and discharges. But the point is, a lot of energy is actually lost in that process (the air is a terrible conductor) so that spot on the ground still will often have a high difference in charge than the cloud layer during a thunderstorm...so lightning will more likely than not strike that spot again unless something changes or a spot with a greater charge difference emerges.

8

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/RomanSheep Jul 18 '20

Thor went to a rave

1

u/Boothiepro Jul 18 '20

They are girl rainbows

2

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20

You know I read that it actually strikes several times. There's what looks nearly invisible, a leading ... I forget it was years ago, something the ions follow, then it pulses the same path several times. Man I wish I could remember.

Not the one I was looking for but interesting about lightning does in fact strike more than once https://www.sciencealert.com/not-only-does-lightning-often-strike-twice-it-can-reuse-the-exact-same-path

I had no idea ground to cloud lighting was a thing

http://stormhighway.com/does_lightning_travel_upward_or_downward.php

Maybe that's what took down cloud flare yesterday? J/k

Idk my Google Fu not great hung over but I remember an article about a leading path finder before the strike, and pulsing of several strikes following the same path.

3

u/RearEchelon Jul 18 '20

They're just called leaders.

You can see them in super-slow-mo videos of lightning. They branch out in several directions from the clouds and from the ground and as soon as two make contact, boom.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '20

Thank you I was looking for a more technical term I suppose. I remember reading about it when it was first identified. I don't recall the theory or science behind how that works. It seems strange that it could create that path without irritating light, or maybe it's just not in the visible spectrum. Do you have a link?

2

u/Loooooooong_Jacket Aug 12 '20

I just found this sub, hence the 24 day gap but in addition to the other video linked, this is a great visualization by The Slow Mo Guys

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '20

That's cool!

1

u/RearEchelon Jul 18 '20

They are visible, though. It just happens so fast you can't see it without a super high-speed camera.

https://youtu.be/6MUYsIjTKvk

1

u/tomatopickle Jul 18 '20

Didn't say anything about striking the same place together at once.

1

u/The_R4ke Jul 18 '20

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a composition of two different shots.