Lightning strikes upwards!

I was giving informal lectures on this over thirty years ago. Yes, lightning does strike upwards. This was an obvious requirement, as there is a build up of electrons on the surface of the Earth and electricity travels from negative to positive. Visual ‘evidence’ indicates that it travels downwards. High speed photography indicates that lightning travels downwards.. However, the physicists have missed the vital point that the eye or the photography are only seeing the light created by the lightning strike, they are not seeing the actual lightning. An electrical charge is electricity and it is static, lightning is electricity and is moving. The electrical charge on the Earth is static, but under the influence of a positive charge it becomes lightning. The change from a ‘charge’ to lightning requires acceleration, it is not instantaneous. (Basic mechanics)

Now Physics or Fantasy, Section 1 shows conclusively that light does not travel at a constant speed. In fact light travels at various speeds, Blue light travels slower than Red light which travels slower than Yellow light which travels slower than White light. White light travels at a vast range of speeds. The same applies to electricity.

Lightning is accelerating during its passage from the Earth to the clouds. Close to the Earth it is travelling quite slowly, therefore its speed of passage creates only low energy light. On entering the cloud layer it is travelling at its highest speed, and therefore creates a higher energy light. The higher the energy of the light the faster it travels. We therefore see the light created at the cloud height before we see the light created at low level. Therefore the lightning appears to travel downwards. No, this does not prove Einstein’s time dilation, it is just basic mechanics.

The lightning strike passing through the atmosphere my be considered to be like a bullet passing through some very light objects. The bullet scatters the light objects in all directions. The speed of scattering of the light objects is considerably less than the speed of the bullet. Unlike a bullet, lightning is constantly accelerating until it reaches the centre of the positive attraction in the cloud layer. It is therefore almost certain that a lightning discharge travels considerably faster than light.

Recent photographs taken from aircraft travelling above the cloud layers, show lightning apparently striking upwards from the cloud layer. This has created much confusion. However, lightning striking a cloud layer from below may not have all its energy absorbed within the cloud, and part of the energy may continue through it to appear as short lightning ‘strikes’ above the cloud layer. This new evidence is certainly indicative that my early thoughts on this were correct. Obviously I may not be correct, but a logical explanation is better than waffle.

Note;  If lightning is electricity and electricity is electrons, then you should not be able to see lightning if light is photons, unless electrons create photons!!!

Lightning can also occur within the clouds. Although we speak of positive and negative, positive should really be considered as ‘Less Negative’. A negative charge is a a supply of free electrons. These will attempt to redistribute themselves into areas with less electrons, i.e. ‘less negative’ areas.  Clouds will generally have areas that are less negative than others and therefore there will be lightning strikes within the cloud layers.

Brian Williams – Author.