Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: Lewis Thomson on 24/02/2022 11:19:29

Title: Does lightning arc upards?
Post by: Lewis Thomson on 24/02/2022 11:19:29

Donald would like to know the answer to this question.

"Lightning is seen to strike the ground and lightning is seen to travel inside clouds, but does lightning ever arc upwards from the clouds into the upper atmosphere to create electric neutrality? (Of course, other than hitting an incidental aircraft, or associated with volcanic events,) I still have difficulty understanding how friction between tiny ice crystals cause massive voltage differences."

Discuss in the comments below...

Title: Re: Does lightning arc upards?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 24/02/2022 12:53:11

Yes, it can arc both ways, but ground to cloud is rarer and more powerful and branches into the sky.

Title: Re: Does lightning arc upards?
Post by: evan_au on 24/02/2022 22:20:24

It was discovered that lightning can create gamma rays which were detected by satellites designed to observe gamma rays in space.
Lightning does reach up into the ionosphere, and the enormous voltages accelerate electrons to high energy, producing gamma rays of up to 20 MeV.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_gamma-ray_flash