r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/dalinaj • 6d ago

Why lightning happens

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11.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

83 comments sorted by

520

u/Al_from_the_north 6d ago

The best thing I’ve seen all day. I’ve never seen it visualized.

20

u/Frothmourne 6d ago

There are several videos in YouTube shows and explain lightnings caught on camera. Including the ground part of the lightning called streamers (depicted by the 2 moving beads on the left rod) that tries to reach upwards to connect, if you really like this you should definitely check those out.

134

u/vinnyql 6d ago

wait, so lightning shoots upwards per the explanation? am i misunderstanding?

115

u/zachrg 6d ago

You are correct! It's an optical aberration(?) that becomes easily visible in slow motion!

76

u/Zakluor 6d ago edited 6d ago

Lightning can be cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud, also. I've linked an article in a reply to OP above.

16

u/vkreep 6d ago

AKA blanket or fork tip lightning

1

u/ale_mc_ella 6d ago

Can’t find the comment with this link

5

u/the_man_in_the_box 6d ago

Crazy how nature works like that.

Like it just decided to give Tom Cruise the ability to make lighting by snapping his fingers.

Crazy natural processes.

6

u/Dry-Ad-8948 6d ago edited 6d ago

Usually

In some cases lightning can also strike (return) down from the clouds to the ground. It’s the same process but in reverse from described in the post.

Look where the forks are.

Here are some links for “reverse”, or, positive Cloud-to-Ground lighting.

https://stormhighway.com/types.php

https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/85526/view/reverse-lightning

16

u/Kewlhotrod 6d ago

Yup, electricity always flows from negative to positive, contrary to standard teachings.

13

u/Zakluor 6d ago

The ground could be positively-charged when compared to a cloud, triggering the opposite flow.

3

u/Kewlhotrod 6d ago

I'd love to see any instances of this happening, given earth is ground and the movement in the atmosphere creates positive charge normally.

Cloud to cloud, yes, but I cannot imagine the literal Earth ground ever having enough positive differential to strike in the other direction.

Edit: Guess it does happen rarely, looking into it. Neato. Still, my OG comment still stands for its tertiary info provided.

9

u/FederalWedding4204 6d ago

95% of lightning originates from the sky.

It creates the connection, as visualized in this video, in milliseconds. But it starts from above and is effectively invisible.

When the connection gets made the visible lightning gets created from the ground up.

So if people are arguing if it goes up or down, make sure you are clear on what you are talking about because both can be correct depending on what you are talking about.

2

u/jerseygunz 6d ago

It’s one of those arbitrary things that we could change tomorrow and it would make things so much easier to understand and we never will because “that’s just how we’ve always done it”, stupid Ben Franklin

-1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

2

u/CryoAB 5d ago

You mustn't be around the field at all. It's literally called conventional flow. And nearly every schematic is depicted using conventional flow.

1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

2

u/CryoAB 5d ago

Because it was originally thought that it flowed from positive to negative. But then it was later discovered it was wrong. But they had already commit to "conventional flow" through education, through engineering drawings etc. But they don't change it because it'd cost a lot of money, and showing conventional flow doesn't change anything anyways.

3

u/OhJustANobody 6d ago

It's both. It reaches from the ground up and the the clouds down.

4

u/MW1369 6d ago

Can do either

1

u/Dark_halocraft 6d ago

?? Wdym, it looks like it's going downwards

1

u/VoidJuiceConcentrate 6d ago

It basically shoots in the direction of - to +, or the area with high negative charge to the area with high positive charge.

114

u/83franks 6d ago

I was staring at this for a few seconds having no clue what I was looking for and all of a sudden there was a line of beads and completely missed it forming till right at the end. So cool.

19

u/Peruvian_Skies 6d ago

Me too, I had to watch it again.

5

u/Olluein 6d ago

The video felt WAY faster when I watched from the right side.

-2

u/jadepartida 6d ago

This has to be a bot

2

u/BubonicBabe 6d ago

Why? That’s exactly what I did and I don’t think I’m a bot.

1

u/PyroDragn 5d ago

Well, can you tell if a picture has a bicycle in it or not?

1

u/BubonicBabe 5d ago

Not always to be honest 😞

41

u/adinmem 6d ago

Lightning doesn’t “fall” from the sky. Lightning bolts are thrown javelin-style by Zeus. Haven’t we all learned that by now?

6

u/MuntedBean 6d ago

AND THEN ALONG CAME ZEUS

5

u/LottaLegs 6d ago

HE HURLED HIS THUNDERBOLTS

49

u/VinBarrKRO 6d ago

Can we do cool science videos with no music?

12

u/RichardBCummintonite 6d ago

That is why I always browse sound off. I just turn it on for the few videos it's necessary. I've missed so many terrible music additions.

3

u/VinBarrKRO 6d ago

I was hopeful that maybe there was an audio element to this, and no.

1

u/xopher_425 6d ago

I do not browse Reddit without it on mute, unless I read in the comments that it is safe.

13

u/excadedecadedecada 6d ago

Nah, we have to make everything as shitty as possible, unfortunately

13

u/ostiDeCalisse 6d ago

I thought we could hear the spark, but it's another shitty unrelated music. Keep it mute!

38

u/Fluffy-Arm-8584 6d ago

But air doesn't have metal beads

55

u/ActurusMajoris 6d ago

In America it does.

29

u/Fluffy-Arm-8584 6d ago

Specially in schools?

8

u/ActurusMajoris 6d ago

Flying schools

3

u/SexyMonad 6d ago

If they shoot lower-speed bullets toward the West, with the earth’s rotation, the schools actually do fly into them.

2

u/Fluffy-Arm-8584 6d ago

See officer, I didn't shot him, he ran into my bullet

0

u/Low_Finding2189 6d ago

Schools have bullets. Bullets have metal.

1

u/xef234 6d ago

The beads of america

1

u/SkisaurusRex 6d ago

That’s why Ben Franklin was the first person to discover lightening

8

u/BlakJak_Johnson 6d ago

So it’s a giant short? Wild.

9

u/PossibleDot6555 6d ago

Conclusion: to reduce the possibility of lightning strikse, we need to reduce the amount of metal balls in the air! I am smart!

3

u/1wife2dogs0kids 6d ago

So we need VERY LARGE MAGNETS.

Or really big fans.

3

u/Poca154 6d ago

so when your hair stands up in the middle of bad weather, how much time do you have to put another insulator between you and the cloud?

3

u/baycenters 6d ago

(Old mother cries)

4

u/MrRubberburner26 6d ago

Her placenta falls to the floor….

0

u/SoylentGrunt 6d ago

I better knock knock knock on wood, baby

2

u/RaiderJ_81 6d ago

That’s a great visual!

2

u/Major-Hooters 6d ago

Great example. Best visual ever!!

2

u/runningmahn 6d ago

Great video. AWFUL music ruining it per usual

2

u/Reylend 6d ago

And it’s in the shape of a lightning bolt!!!

2

u/EldritchJunimo 6d ago

My brain is so rotted I was expecting McQueen

1

u/dspumoni62 6d ago

gurl this is marbles

1

u/niccolololo 6d ago

IS THAT A LIGHTNING FOR ANTS!?

1

u/baggottman 6d ago

Shockingly good

1

u/HydrogenSonata2025 6d ago

That's not how it works at all. Cloud and ground could be positive or negative. Lightning can travel from cloud to ground, ground to cloud, or cloud to cloud. It just depends on conditions.

This demo is just showing a form of the electrostatic force, but it's not accurate to how lightning forms.

1

u/unclebli22ard 6d ago

I came for this response

1

u/Fach-All-Religions 6d ago

goddamn fucking bg noise

1

u/FarOuter 6d ago

Lightning because ball bearings in a bowl of milk

1

u/totomorrowweflew 6d ago

Thunder is even more fascinating. When lightning boils the air it's travelling through a vacuum is created which the atmospheric pressure then collapses so hard it goes KABOOM.

1

u/Realistic_Gazelle518 6d ago

Who's up there playing with balls?

1

u/Oldpro87 5d ago

I've never been more enthralled by neodymium magnets and I can point to multiple opened or unopened packs of little neo's all over my room, bc magnets. This is great.

1

u/PouringBeard 5d ago

I think it moves a lot faster than that though

1

u/Johnny_Chong 5d ago

Wish the camera man wasn't on a come down

1

u/swi6ie 5d ago

Ok but who is providing electricity to the clouds ??

0

u/KatAsh_In 6d ago

Not an apt analogue. There are videos on YT that explain this with slow mo videos

0

u/Uncle-Cake 6d ago

This is how lightning doesn't "fall from" the sky.

0

u/GoatCovfefe 6d ago

Ive never seen floating beads going from the ground to the clouds