Is this true?????? thunder lighting question???

Question

i am really confused here!!!! please can somebody help me!!! my parents say that the thunder lightning stays up the sky but i think it hits the ground!!!! what is right please tell me!!!! is it dangerous

Answer 1

the mojority of lightening strikes happen in the air horizontally between clouds but some do strike towards the ground and they're the dangerous variety. Som lightening strikes even go straight upwards although this was not discovered until very recently.

Answer 2

Sheet lightening  goes across the sky,Fork lightening hits the earth.

Answer 3

Of course lightning hits the ground as well as it can hit just above in the clouds. This is why people and houses and trees are hit!!!

Lightning can go everywhere. You should be save in your home, if it is protected and of course in your car because it's a Faraday's cage. The wheels are not giving it away to the earth, that's like the earthcable inside a house.

Answer 4

It's truly frightening how many incredibly stupid people there are in the world.

Charlie Q is the only one to answer correctly.  There is no such thing as sheet lightning or fork lightning.  Lightning is an electrical discharge which can travel between clouds or between cloud and ground.  Thunder is merely the shock wave created by the "snap," a big sound wave, and yes it does reach the ground, or else you would not hear it.

Answer 5

it is dangerous. you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than winning the lotto, lightning strikes the country about 25 million times a year.

Answer 6

when it originates in the sky, it hits the ground.  however, what many do not know is that lightning also can originate in the ground and rise up to the sky.  it all depends on the negative and positive charges in the ground and in the sky.  

Answer 7

lightning hits the ground and can injure/kill many ppl . . . boys are more likely to be struck by lightning than girls . . . the taller things are the more likely they are to be struck by lightning . . . however thunder is a response to the lightning it is the sound of the vibrations of lightning hitting the ground so yes . . . thunder "stays in the sky" but lightning hits the ground, or objects on the ground. . . . lightning can also go from cloud - to - cloud . . . . this is called sheet lightning . . . the one tht can hit other ppl and objects is called fork lightning

Answer 8

it goes from the sky to ground

or sometimes from ground to sky.

Answer 9

Lightning can do many things:

It can shoot between a cloud and the ground. It can shoot between two clouds. And it can shoot inside the same cloud, from one end to the other.

Answer 10

if it stays in the sky how come people get struck by lightning  

Answer 11

Most of the lightning we see, actually strikes the ground.  Some lightning, however, strikes from cloud to cloud.

Either way, you don't want to be amongst any form of lightning because it is lethal.  It is a high energy discharge of static electricity.

Answer 12

Thunder and lightning are two different things. It sounded like you were saying they were one thing. Thunder is a sound so it obviously doesn't touch the ground. You're both right. Lightning can either go from cloud to cloud or cloud to ground. All lightning can be dangerous. If you here thunder or see lightning always seek a safe shelter no matter how the lightning strikes until 30 minutes after the last thunder or lighting strike.  

Answer 13

Lightening can hit the ground thunder cannot!

Answer 14

I heard somewhere that lightning can strike ground 20 miles from the cloud that generates it.

scientists are still learning about lightning, finding new things

Lightning is always dangerous,

but most buildings have protection against it.  

Most lightning does stay in the clouds, or goes above it.

Lightning has been known to arc upwards into the atmosphere.

Answer 15

fork lightening can hit the ground but sheet lightening stays in the sky

Answer 16

Lightning disharges in BOTH cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground strikes.

Lightning is generated by the turbulance inside cumulo-nimbus clouds, just as static electricity is generated by walking across a wool carpet.  The charges build-up until the voltage difference, either inside a cloud, between clouds, or between the earth and a cloud, is so great that a path is ionized through the air causing a "spark", just as in the spark-plug in a car engine.  That spark is the lightning.

The voltages and the flow of current in the arc are very great.  The arc heats the surrounding air, causing it to expand rapidly, creataing a pressure wave which makes the thunder.

So first the arc (lightning), then the thunder.

Since thunder is a pressure wave, the same as a sound wave, it travels about one-fifth of a mile per second, or one mile in five seconds.  So if you see lightning, and start counting; one-thousand one, one-thousand two, and so on (each count takes about one second) until you hear the thunder, you know how  many miles away the lightning was by multiplying your count (the number of seconds) by one-fifth.  If you counted to five, the lightning was one mile away.

Lightning is very powerful energy and can cause fires and even kill.However, it always takes the shortest path between its source (a cloud) and the nearest object connected to the ground, usually a tree, tall building, or telephone pole.  So if you are caught outside in a lightning storm, stay away from tall objects, and DO NOT seek shelter under  a tree!  If you cant do anything else, lie down in a ditch until the storm passes. You are very safe inside a car, because the metal "skin" of the car will shield you from the energy of a lightning strike.

Hope this anwers your concerns -

Answer 17

there is no such thing as thunder lightning, all lightning produces makes a sound, it's called thunder. There is two kinds of lightning, cloud to ground and cloud to cloud.

There is also ball lightning but that's not completely understood by scientists yet so we won't open that can of worms.

87 people on average die in the U.S. each year due to lightning, only 10 percent of lightning strikes are fatal however.