Abstract
SOME months ago, B. F. J. Schonland and H. Collens1 published several important photographs of lightning discharges taken by a Boys' camera, that is, two lenses fixed at opposite points of a circle and revolving rapidly about its centre. In a further communication, with D. F. Malan, published in NATURE2, a brief account is given of some further results with their camera. The most important point which emerges from a consideration of their new photographs is that there is a characteristic difference between the predischarges of the first stroke of a lightning flash and those of the subsequent strokes of the flash along the same track. While the latter predischarges are of a continuously moving character and travel from cloud to ground generally in less than 1/1,000 of a second, the former move from the cloud in a discontinuous step by step manner and take a comparatively long time to reach the ground, sometimes more than 1/100 of a second.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 143, 654; 1934.
NATURE, 134, 177, Aug. 4, 1934.
Ann. Phys. und Chem., 6, 636; 1898. 68, 776; 1899.
Ann. Phys., 10, 393; 1903. A more detailed account appeared in Jahrbuch d. Hamburg, wiss. Anstalten, 20; 1903.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
WALTER, B. Development of the Lightning Discharge. Nature 135, 150 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135150c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135150c0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.