When Lightning Strikes, Spark Branches Reconnect

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - 14:56 in Biology & Nature

Bolts of lightning often resemble the forked, branches of trees. Similar to tree branches, lightning sparks typically spread apart. Recently, physicists at Centrum voor Wiskunde un Informatica and Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have for the first time determined the conditions that allow for spark branches to reconnect, by overcoming the electrostatic repulsion that usually causes them to separate.

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