What would it take for an Earthlike world to have more intense lightning?

[PlutonianEmpire]

New question.

In the American Midwest, sometimes, some storms become so powerful, that, especially at night, the lightning is literally non-stop, with absolutely no pauses at all between flashes and bolts; even between series of flashes and bolts, there are absolutely no pauses whatsoever. I don't know how often that happens elsewhere on Earth, though.

Anyways, my question is, what would it take for a habitable, Earthlike, terrestrial world to achieve those same rates of lightning, but in ALL of its thunderstorms (or MOST of them, if not all; eg 90% or more)?

[Noclevername]

If most of the land were concentrated in a supercontinent, there would be more room for storms to build up at sea. If the supercontinent were relatively flat, these superstorms would roll right over the land.

[primummobile]

New question.

In the American Midwest, sometimes, some storms become so powerful, that, especially at night, the lightning is literally non-stop, with absolutely no pauses at all between flashes and bolts; even between series of flashes and bolts, there are absolutely no pauses whatsoever. I don't know how often that happens elsewhere on Earth, though.

Anyways, my question is, what would it take for a habitable, Earthlike, terrestrial world to achieve those same rates of lightning, but in ALL of its thunderstorms (or MOST of them, if not all; eg 90% or more)?

I'd like to add that lightning is simply an electrostatic discharge from one area to another. It can occur anytime the potential difference between two areas is sufficient to ionize the atmosphere along the path. You see the same thing, although at vastly lower potentials (maybe about 10,000V) when you get a static shock when reaching for a metal object on a dry day. So it is not necessary to have a thunderstorm in order to observe lightning. Anything that causes voltage potentials to build up can cause lightning. Lightning has been observed in large forest fires, sandstorms, volcanic eruptions, and even surface nuclear explosions. So there are many factors besides the potential for thunderstorms that would influence how much lightning you would observe.

[PlutonianEmpire]

I'd like to add that lightning is simply an electrostatic discharge from one area to another. It can occur anytime the potential difference between two areas is sufficient to ionize the atmosphere along the path. You see the same thing, although at vastly lower potentials (maybe about 10,000V) when you get a static shock when reaching for a metal object on a dry day. So it is not necessary to have a thunderstorm in order to observe lightning. Anything that causes voltage potentials to build up can cause lightning. Lightning has been observed in large forest fires, sandstorms, volcanic eruptions, and even surface nuclear explosions. So there are many factors besides the potential for thunderstorms that would influence how much lightning you would observe.

I knew that the first three could get lightning, but nuclear explosions? Wow, I had never thought of that one, but considering all the dust and other materials displacements, it does make sense.

[Grashtel]

I'd like to add that lightning is simply an electrostatic discharge from one area to another. It can occur anytime the potential difference between two areas is sufficient to ionize the atmosphere along the path. You see the same thing, although at vastly lower potentials (maybe about 10,000V) when you get a static shock when reaching for a metal object on a dry day. So it is not necessary to have a thunderstorm in order to observe lightning. Anything that causes voltage potentials to build up can cause lightning. Lightning has been observed in large forest fires, sandstorms, volcanic eruptions, and even surface nuclear explosions. So there are many factors besides the potential for thunderstorms that would influence how much lightning you would observe.

Do you know of any references for lightning being observed in nuclear explosions? Because it sounds like an awesome origin for a superhero.

[primummobile]

Do you know of any references for lightning being observed in nuclear explosions? Because it sounds like an awesome origin for a superhero.

I know it says it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects...ear_explosions

If you don't want to wade through that, you can just do a google search for it. As far as I know, it's only been observed in surface blasts. I could be wrong about that, but I'm not sure you would get a high enough potential to ground in an air-detonation for a discharge to ground to occur.

[Van Rijn]

I remember seeing a picture. Yes, this would work in a superhero movie, I think:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/science...2-vari-08.html

[PlutonianEmpire]

I remember seeing a picture. Yes, this would work in a superhero movie, I think:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/science...2-vari-08.html

Wow again, lol. I was expecting it in the ensuing mushroom cloud, but the fireball?

Although I remember seeing a few h-bomb explosion videos online, they're always in slow-motion. Do giant h-bomb explosions really take that long to evolve in real life, or did they use high-speed cameras for that?