[neilep (OP)]

Dearest Ben-Franklin-Lightningologists,


Take a look at these two piccys of lightning.








Two lightning bolts being all snazzy and electrifying just moments ago


Apparently , horizontal lightning is far more powerful than Vertical lightning , Why's that then ?

What makes Horizontal lightning so full of bravado that it simply has to be more powerful than vertical ?

whajafink ?






hugs



Neil
xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Halc]

Apparently , horizontal lightning is far more powerful than Vertical lightning , Why's that then ?

There is no way to compare the power from just a piccy.  To be honest, the vertical one looked brighter, and that means more power. But they were different lighting, magnifications, etc, so comparison is difficult.

Lightning will form when the electrical potential over a distance is over some critical value, which is probably a function of how conductive the air is at various altitudes. So the greater the distance, the greater the potential difference required for a strike to occur. All else being equal (and assuming a very simplified model of a fairly linear unbranching lightning bolt), the energy dissipated per second for a single bolt seems to be proportional to the potential difference, which in turn is a function of the length of the thing.  So if the distance to the ground is less than the horizontal dimension of the storm, a longer horizontal lightning bolt would seem to have the potential to consume the most power.

[evan_au]

There are two kinds of cloud-to-ground lightning, depending on whether:
- Electrons travel from cloud to ground ('Negative lightning'), or
- Electrons travel from ground to cloud ('Positive lightning') - much rarer, making up about 5% of flashes

The positive lightning bolts are far more powerful - a higher current, transferring more charge.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning#Positive_and_negative_lightning

But regardless of whether it is positive or negative, it is enough to make a sheep's hair stand on end!

[Halc]

There are two kinds of cloud-to-ground lightning, depending on whether

There are also two kinds of cloud-to-ground lightning, depending on weather.  * Snerk *

Sorry. Kind of left yourself open for that one.

It seems that horizontal lightning is always moving electrons just from here to there, or there to here, neither of which seems likely to be especially more powerful. So maybe those might be stronger than the typical vertical bolt, but not perhaps the typical positive ones.

I was present at a few lightning strikes.  I had no hair to stand on end with one of them, and was too young to have memory of it, but it was the most dramatic I'm told.
The nearest I remember hit about 10 meters away and I never felt it coming. Plenty loud though.

Do negative strikes make your hair stand on end? Do they repel all the electrons nearby in preparation to warmly receive the gift ones from the clouds? They must I'd think.

[evan_au]

Do negative strikes make your hair stand on end?

I would say "yes".

According to the convention: Electrons travel from cloud to ground ('Negative lightning'),
- That means that the ground has a positive charge. If you are electrically connected to the ground, you, too will develop a positive charge.
- This is analogous to someone touching the fixed sphere at the top of a Van de Graaf generator, which is also positively charged. This is the classic experiment to make a young lady's hair stand on end (presumably because it is more dramatic than young man's generally shorter hair style...).

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator

[Bored chemist]

At least some horizontal lightning is low power.
"Anvil Crawlers are tree-like, horizontally-moving IC lightning discharges which tend to appear along the underside of thunderstorm anvils. They can be seen by the human eye due to their slower speed (relative to other lightning!). This type of lightning (sometimes referred to as ‘rocket lightning’) often cover very large distances, resulting in spectacular sky-filling displays. Anvil crawlers are often very high-altitude events, and typically result in soft, rolling thunder due to their great distance from the observer. Anvil crawlers can either occur independently completely within the cloud, or in connection with a cloud-to-ground discharge."
From
https://www.rmets.org/metmatters/types-lightning

For a given energy, a slower bolt has a lower power because power is the rate of transfer of energy.