Lightning...

[BigToque]

Does lightning shoot from the ground to the sky or from the sky to the ground? A little of both?

 

[Cable God]

I think if you saw it going from the ground to the sky, you might have a few issues...... just kidding. I think it goes from sky to ground as far as I know.

 

[BigToque]

I always thought it came from the sky to the ground, but I remember seeing some show that said it also came from the ground to the sky.

Now I'm confused again because I was watching the discovery channel, and they say lighting is attracted to the highest point in an area. This would make me believe it comes from the sky.

 

[jtshaw]

I have heard that the actually impulse of electricity starts at the ground and goes into the atmosphere for most lighting. I don't have any scientific explination for that though.

 

[thebestMAX]

Ive always heard ground to sky and cloud to cloud. Wont swear to it.

 

[jtshaw]

Ok, here you go...a link: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/ltgcenter/ltgmain.html

It can go from Cloud to Ground, Cloud to Cloud, or Ground to Cloud, and maybe more So the answer is both I guess.