Is there a reason lightning has such an irregular pattern as it strikes through the air?

Question

Is there a reason lightning has such an irregular pattern as it strikes through the air?

Answer 1

  It ionizes the air as it passes through and the resistance of the air is different from inch to inch so the path is jagged.

Answer 2

Contrary to what you may believe, given specific enviromental factors at any given instant with electricity, the fastest way from point a to point b is not a straight line, therefore.

Answer 3

Not really... Lightning will take the path of least resistance to reach the negative counterpart. Since the air is always moving, that path of least resistance is always changing.

Answer 4

Sometimes it's a straight bolt. When it zig zags I guess it's like those pictures of Tesla with the electricity scattering above him. Lightening is like his Tesla coil where an electrical charge would scatter into the air looking for a negative ground. The scattering is caused by the power of the voltage that is looking for a negative discharge or ground and takes off everywhere until it finds it.

Answer 5

Lightning itself is electric current. One of the features of electric current is the fact that it follows the path of resistance. Electric current much prefers a conducting material over a resistive material. It is possible to have almost perfectly straight lightning, though. Most lightning is negatively charged, which has multiple bolts and irregular paths. Positively charged lightning has a single bolt and a more straightened one at that.