When lightniing strike the sea, why doesn't the electricity spread all over?
445432
It does, but the charge dissipates so quickly and is spread so thin over the large mass of water that it doesn't effect a very large area or go very far.
476749
Whenever there is accumulation of charge in particles in the atmosphere, equal but opposite charge is accumulated in the Earth’s surface.\n\n If an object has a blunt surface and a sharp point, charge accumulates more in the sharp point than in the blunt surface.\n\nIn a bare ground if a man stands and another man is lying on the ground near by, the probability of striking of lightning is more for the man standing than that of a man lying. Note it is a probability.\n\nWhen you are in swimming in a pool, you are the highest point near the surroundings and all the charges induced accumulate only on your body and the probability of lightning to occur is at its high value.
216544
Ordinarily, wood is not a conductor of electricity...\n\nBut not for lightning...It strikes the tallest object in an area. If you are under a tree or within its vicinity, if lightning strikes the tree, then it may likely hit you, too, due to its very high voltage (it may reach several thousand or even million volts)...\n\nIf lightning hits you, you will be lucky if you survive...
375503
Space.  No kidding.  Sprites and Elves show us that the energy is coming from way up in the ionosphere, which is the outer boundary of the Earth's electric field.  Unfortunately, all the scientists we have nowadays are stupid or the satellites have been hijacked by someone who doesn't want us to know what causes lightning. Either way, it's not official yet.  But with all the crazy weather we've been getting nowadays and with all the awesome thunderstorms that cause hundreds of thousands of cloud to ground strikes, it shouldn't be too long before somebody realizes all this energy has to be coming from somewhere other than the clouds themselves.
222156
Principally yes, lightning will split water, but not through electrolysis but because of the heat.\n\nAssuming your array of lightning rods will attract a lightning, you will need to transform that high voltage into the millivolt region you need for electrolysis, and keep it coming for quite some time since electrolysis is an equilibrium process. In short, you need to store electrical lightning energy, which is so difficult nobody (except Frankenstein :) has produced a workable solution.\n\nHarnessing the thermal energy of the lightning on the other end of the lightning rod would be tricky, too - if the resistance is too high, the lightning rod wouldn't attract the lightning, if it is too low, the thermal energy won't be released where you want it.\n\nStatic electricity discharges generally are unsuitable when you want a current, otherwise someone would have built generators using piezo elements long ago.
46381
Well electricity needs a path to travel in. Electricity can flow in wires, or other conductors, like a plasma, which consists of charged particles; that is, the electrons have been stripped off the atoms because they are so energetic, leaving just a seething collection of positive and negative particles (said to be "ionized"). In a lightning strike, a path of charged particles extends between the cloud and the ground, or some other object near the ground like a tree or a lightning rod or building (or sometimes between one cloud and another). The electricity in lightning follows this charged path. \n\nIf you can use a powerful laser or some other technique to form an ionized path in the air, then electricity can follow that ionized path, just like it does in lightning (or in Van de Graff generator experiments).
214117
Electricity of any kind, including that generating lightning, is caused by a potential difference in charge between two object-in this case, between the water in the ocean and the storm, which generates ionic imbalance.  The lightning transfers charge from one to the other, equalizing it.  Thus, the charge from the lightning disperses into the water-within a few 10s of feet of the strike, even a large lightning bolt will have dispersed the electrical charge sufficiently that it would not kill fish.  Seawater, though a good conducter, in this case is not conducting the electricity anywhere-it is the terminal acceptor of electical charge.
461903
It happens in the atmosphere too, but to a lesser degree.\n\nWater (even pure water) reflects, refracts, and absorbs light.  As light passes through a body of water, some of the light is reflected back, some of the light is refracted (bent), and some of the light is absorbed (leading to warming of the water).  The more water the light has to pass through, the more of the light that is reflected, refracted, or absorbed.  So the deeper you go, the less light will reach you.\n\nTo simplify, just consider absorbsion.  If a cloumn of water one metre deep absorbs 50% of the light that passes through it, then the light at the top of the column will be 100% and at the bottom only 50%.  Add another column of one metre under the first column and it will absorb 50% of the light that passes through it.  It has 50% of the total light available at the top, so only 25% remains at the bottom.\nAnd so on.
591859
Yeah, okay.  So it works like this, \n\nYou get a shock when you touch a live wire, or, say, a charged conductor (like a sister rubbing her rubber soled slippers on the carpet) because that conductor has an excess of electrons.  These electrons (the electrical charge) are trying to get to the ground (you can think of the earth as the largest conductor around, it is therefore the best place for extra electrons to be, energetically speaking).\n\nSo if you stick a live wire into the ocean (the salt water is a good conductor) but it is so vast that the electrons will spread incredibly fast (going to the ground in every conceivable direction) so the charge will become really small really quickly.\n\nSo basically, if you're standing near where you stick the wire in, you'd be luck to electrocute yourself.  Though I wouldn't recommend trying.
272565
You are electrically charged...it's like a mini-lighting storm... the touching of electrons causes a little clash.\nIt's an energy thing.\n\nHowstuffworks.com has a science section. It can explain electricity.
111323
I see the point in your question.  I think you are asking why  do we not see an aura of light, since light would still be passing around us.\n\nLight is an electromagnetic wave (OK, some might say rightly that this is debatable since it sometimes displays properties more accustomed to matter.  However, this dual nature does not imply that light is not an electromagnetic wave).\n\nThat said, one must understand that the e-m wave in itself is invisible.  It is the retina in our eyes which is sensitive to these rays.  Imagine this example.  Light a torch in a dark and clean room (no dust flying about!).  You would see the paper, but you won't see the light travelling from the torch to paper!  That is unless dust, or humidity, reflect this light and you would see a beam of light.  Similarly if you take a magnifying glass, you can see the image, but can you see the light coming out of that image? No.\n\nSo, though light would be passing around us, since nothing, except of course the Moon, satellites, and planets would be reflecting it, we cannot see it!
28574
Lightning can happen when it snows.  The reason lighting happens is because the air in the clouds is negatively charged compared to the ground (making the clouds (-) and the gorund (+)).  The clouds usally get this way in dry conditions cause there is less moisture in the air to stop air molecules from rubbing up against one another and creating excess energy (a negative charge).  Well since the clouds are (-) it needs a way of getting rid of some energy so it can be neutral (n).  It does this by passing some energy in to the (+)  ground, which also want to be (n).  This passing of energy rips throught the (n) air in between the (-) clouds and the(+) ground and creats the effect of lightning.  Now the reason it usually doesn't happen when it snow is because of the moisture in the air being so high, but everyonce in a while the air become dry enough when it snow to produce lightning.
658854
Well if you passed a large current through the ocean and you made the water a positive charge, and you threw in a magnetic asteroid rock that also had a positive charge it would not go into the water at all but shoot back into space or hover over the water depending on its weight and acceleration figure.! If the rock was heavy enough so that gravity outweighed the magnetic microcosmic charges between the rock and the ocean electromacnect fields would be surrounding the rock along with air, kinda like a mini lightning storm, or those glass balls with electricity inside and you put you fingers to and the electricity moves. Anyway when it does go down it will part the ocean so much so that not only would it be an bioscopic disaster for all beach dwelling bionic creature, it could also cause tidal waves, melting of the snow gaps and thus global warming, and a hole in the atmosphere. Im afraid the consequences of throwing that rock in would be devastating! Please Dont do it! And dont try it at home aswell! If you must go overseas and throw it in someone elses ocean! Heidi
571899
Lightening always takes the quickest path to ground. Water is conductive so if water is the closest conductive thing to ground from the point of origination then it well conduct electricity down to ground.
680198
Your concept of the linesman is correct, however, being immersed in a body of water is dangerous.  Lightning carries a far greater potential than that of what the linesman faces.  True, there is no conduction of current to ground, but the copter and the line must be equalized before contact can be made.  This is because of the state of "STATIC ELECTRICITY".  Energy that is "Static" is not moving.  Nevertheless, when it comes in contact with another object, one who's energy level is at a different potential, the energy no longer remains static.  The sudden rush of current will be felt.  That's why when you cross the rug and grab the door knob you get a shock.  You have a significantly higher potential than the door knob and when you touch it there is a rush of energy trying to equalize the differences.\n\nBeing in a pool at essentially zero volts and a crack of lightning hits close by, the ground and the water in the pool will charge up before dissipating the lightning strike, possibly leaving you dead.  Wouldn't that ruin your day?\n\nDuring lightning storms stay out of the pool or the tub, do not be running the sink and stay off the phone (cordless phones do not apply in this case as there is no direct wiring to the outside world).  There have been documented cases where persons on the phone have been struck in the head by lightning, again it's due to that equalization of energy levels thing.\n\nHey, even if everyone is wrong, wanna risk your life?  You could die in a tub if someone dropped something electrical in the water.  True, your assumption is that water conducts better than the human body, but that is a wrong assumption.  Pure water is an insulator.  It's the impurity in water that makes it conduct.  Our bodies are actually much better conductors of electricity.  Don't believe me?  Ask someone like an electric shop teacher.\n\nI hesitate to give you a test to try because of the danger of electrocution, but if I were at your house I could demonstrate in a matter of seconds that what I am saying is true.  But for the sake of not causing someone to try a potentially dangerous experiment I'll not be specific.\n\nHowever, if you must know, e-mail me and we can chat.  When I am confident of your ability to conduct the test safely then I will tell you how to do this.
448566
Because the ocean is fricking huge.  The electricity dissipates.  So if you happen to be swimming nearby, you'll probably get fried a bit, but if you're miles away, you won't even notice.
218137
I have nver heard of an electric current being effected by light, so my first inclination is to say no.\n\nHowever, if you think of light as an electromagnetic wave, a set of orthagonal electric and magnetic fields, it may be possible.\nAn electric current is simply the flow of charged particles (usually electrons).\nWe know that an electric field will effect an electric current (opposite charges attract, like charges repel).  We also know that a magnetic field will effect a current (moving electric current generated magnetic field and exerts a force on an electricly charged particles).\nSo it may be possible for the moving electric and magnetic fields to interfere with the electric current, but I am not entirely sure.