Why does lightning or electricity go down to the earth or is attracted to the ground?

Question

Why does lightning or electricity go down to the earth or is attracted to the ground?

Answer 1

when it comes down to shake the earth because it sences some heavy magnetic waves so the earth will get zapped.

Answer 2

Anything electrical has to find ground.  That is why power tools like drills have a three prong plug, positive, negative, and the third big one is for ground.

Answer 3

A lightning bolt begins with the development of a step leader. Excess electrons on the bottom of the cloud begin a journey through the conducting air to the ground at speeds up to 60 miles per second. These electrons follow zigzag paths towards the ground, branching at various locations. The variables which affect the details of the actual pathway are not well known. It is believed that the presence of impurities or dust particles in various parts of the air might create regions between clouds and earth which are more conductive than other regions. As the step leader grows, it might be illuminated by the purplish glow which is characteristic of ionized air molecules. Nonetheless, the step leader is not the actual lightning strike, it merely provides the roadway between cloud and Earth along which the lightning bolt will eventually travel.

As the electrons of the step leader approach the Earth, there is an additional repulsion of electrons downward from Earth's surface. The quantity of positive charge residing on the Earth's surface becomes even greater. This charge begins to migrate upward through buildings, trees and people into the air. This upward rising positive charge - known as a streamer - approaches the step leader in the air above the surface of the Earth. The streamer might meet the leader at an altitude equivalent to the length of a football field. Once contact is made between the streamer and the leader, a complete conducting pathway is mapped out and the lightning begins. The contact point between ground charge and cloud charge rapidly ascends upward at speeds as high as 50 000 miles per second. As many as a billion trillion electrons can transverse this path in less than a millisecond. This initial strike is followed by several secondary strikes or charge surges in rapid succession. These secondary surges are spaced apart so closely in time that may appear as a single strike. The enormous and rapid flow of charge along this pathway between the cloud and Earth heats the surrounding air, causing it to expand violently. The expansion of the air creates a shockwave which we observe as thunder.

Answer 4

well first it's obvius it doesn't go up....but lightning and electricity is attracted to magnetic activity that's why lots of women have been hit by lightning because they wore magnetic lens bras...ZAP POW ZHITZ PHOOSH BAM....dead.....

Answer 5

as far as I can remember from my science classes lighting comes form the earth it it is pulled up from the earth by the electron's molecules in the atmosphere, maybe their are new ideas now I'm not sure