> "IF" there's a stormcloud going by, with "X" amount of electrical potential,
> the only way it
> can hit the Earth, is "IF" there's an equal/opposite charge in the Earth...I
> think it's well known
> that there are "feelers" also known by other names; tiny strands of
> electrical charge that work
> their way UP from the Earth, immediately prior to lightning strikes.
I think they are more commonly called "feeders."
I thought that the most common lightning strike starts from the cloud
and goes down, but some might go opposite.
I've read that the feeder grows in spurts, by sending what amounts to
a small cloud of charged particles downward. It goes some small
distance (I don't recall, something like 10-50 feet), then runs out of
steam, then picks up again (perhaps after enough similarly charged
particles have caught up with it), goes another short distance, then
slows down again, etc. ... until it reaches the ground or another
cloud. This all happens in the blink of an eye. These spurts are
part of what give lightning its jagged appearance.
Once that ionized path has been formed, then repeat strikes happen
over the same path. The second bolt is often a return strike from the
ground up, and is much stronger (brighter) than the first one. All of
these subsequent strikes are almost instantaneous once the ionized
path is formed.
> There's
> a well-publicized
> case of a woman that got hit, in the lower seats of a stadium...
A distant relative of mine was apparently struck by lightning, in his
feet, standing in the doorway to his house. (Although it's also been
suggested the feet might have been where the lightning exited his
body. Either way, the house didn't protect him much.)
Andy
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