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Why is lightning crooked?

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Why is lightning crooked?

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Think of lightning as building a highway. As you travel on the roads across our area you will notice that they twist and turn as you travel on them. The formation of lightning is similar. The road is this case is called a leader. It is one of the main components that forms lightning and generally starts near the bottom of a cloud and works its way to the Earth’s surface. Like the construction of a road, the leader is built in sections. Each section is about 150 feet long and 4 inches in diameter and is constructed in a very short time. How short? In less time than it takes for you to blink you eye, several sections can be completed. After each section is completed there is a short pause then another section is built. However, the new section may not be in the same direction as the previous one. Now think of this leader as a super highway with many off ramps all taking you in roughly the same direction, towards the Earth’s surface. Each section of the leader has a chance of reaching the

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A streak of lightning is a searing discharge of electricity cutting its way through a storm cloud. The cloudy air is loaded with moisture in the form of sizable raindrops, miniature droplets of mist and gaseous water vapor. The scaring streak of electricity travels miles in a split second, too fast for the foist air to move away from its path. The stormy air resists the lightning, trying to block its path. The lightning zigs and zags from side to side as it finds patches of less resistance in the turbulent cloud. After the first flash, the same zig zag path may be used by another and another flash, following each other in a fraction of a second.

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