Does lightning come from the ground?
AS strange as it may seem, lightning can come from the ground but the conditions have to be right for this to happen.
We explain how this happens.
Does lightning come from the ground?
In most cases there is cloud-to-ground lightning but what you actually see comes from the ground up.
The flash lowers a path of negative electricity, that can't be seen with the human eye, towards the ground in a series of spurts.
In a typical thunderstorm objects under the storm have a positive energy.
As opposites attract, an upward bolt is sent out from the object about to be struck.
When the two paths meet, a return stroke zips back up to the sky.
It is the return stroke that produces the visible flash, but it all happens so quickly - in a few thousandths of a second - so the human eye is unable to see the actual formation.
What happens to the ground when lightning strikes it?
When lightning hits the ground it fuses dirt and clays in to silicas, according to in the US.
The result is usually a glassy rock, called a fulgurite, in the shape of a convoluted tube.
The colour of the fulgurite depends on the minerals in the ground when it was struck.
Burn marks and damage to grass can usually be seen where the lightning has struck and along its path on the ground.
If a tree is hit and the bolt gets under the bark and into the surface moisture of the wood, the rapidly expanding steam can blast pieces of bark and branches from the tree.
The wood along the path of the lightning strike is usually killed off.
Do lightning strikes leave marks on the ground?
Lightning strikes often leave marks on the ground indicating where the strike has hit and the directions the bolt has dissipated in.
These intricate patterns are known as 'Lichtenberg figures'.
The patterns are created by intense heating from lightning arcs traveling just below or along the surface of the ground or pavement.
Craters or trenches are sometimes created in sand, soil, or asphalt as moisture is explosively vaporized by the intense heat of the lightning discharge.