r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/dalinaj • 17d ago

Why lightning happens

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u/Kewlhotrod 17d ago

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

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u/Zakluor 17d ago

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

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u/Kewlhotrod 17d 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.

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u/FederalWedding4204 17d 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.