Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm doing a Science Fair project, and I can't find info on "What are the Variables needed to Create a Succesful Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Stright." If there any possibility that I could get info, and also so ideas on a project (perticularly in a plexy glass case) that would be great!
-Sam

Hi SamUL, this sounds like an interesting project idea! There is a wealth of scientific information on lightning, I would suggest starting with a simple google search on the topic. I did this and ended up at the website below.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/lightning.htm

Once you feel you have a good understanding you will then need to come up with an experimental question for your project. The link below can help with this.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tion.shtml

Keep in mind that lightning is very dangerous and it is not easy to experiment with. There are small scale devices that may be better suited to a science project (a Van de Graaf generator, for instance) so you may want to look into these as well.

Good luck and keep us posted!

- Ryan