From: utzoo!decvax!cwruecmp!glassner Newsgroups: net.physics Title: Re: lightning Article-I.D.: cwruecmp.434 Posted: Tue Jan 25 12:10:27 1983 Received: Fri Jan 28 01:15:01 1983 When in high school my physics prof described lightning this way: A high potential difference builds between the surface of the Earth and the storm clouds above, which are chock-full of ions. The air in-between ionizes, and when there's enough ionization to permit conduction between Earth and sky, ZAP! Lightning actually does not "fall from the sky", but is a two-way connection between heaven and Earth. He claimed that this explained the usually-true myth that "lightning doesn't strike twice in one place." The idea was that the short-circuit removes all the available ions in an area, so it's not likely that a new potential difference will build up there soon. -Not afraid to be wrong, -Andrew Glassner decvax!cwruecmp!glassner