Can a bullet fired into the storm cloud cause lightning to strike?

BigChungus@startrek.website to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 70 points –

I’m just curious during thunderstorm, if anyone tried to fire a bullet during storm into clouds? Will the lightning strike the bullet? Mythbusters or someone else maybe did that ?

31

I don't know about bullets, but laser beams seem to work: https://www.sci.news/physics/laser-guided-lightning-11572.html

Laser beams ionize particles in the air . Ionized particles are conductive. As they are lined up, they form a path.

No. Lightning happens when charge builds up. When it gets big enough relative to how much resistance there is to the ground, it manages to ionize the air, creating a pathway for the charge to flow to/from ground and neutralizing it. The metal in the bullet would likely be a better conductor than air (less resistance), but it is absolutely miniscule and these things happen on an enormous scale. There would also need to be a near-critical charge there already - a lightning strike "waiting to happen". Charge keeps building in a thunderstorm, so basically it'd just happen a moment later anyway at "best", if you magically managed to fire a bullet at the right time and location to make a critical difference in resistance.

Just saying...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/08/florida-gun-owners-encouraged-shoot-storm-fire-guns-hurricane/

Seems like someone is doing a whole lotta smiteing in the Bible belt. That surely can't be a sign.

Paywall :(

The URL indicates it's a story about Floridians being encouraged to shoot firearms at a hurricane.

The subsequent image seems to indicate Florida sees a lot more lightning strikes than the rest of the US.

“Florida gun owners encouraged to 'shoot the storm' and fire their guns at Hurricane Irma

By Harriet Alexander New York 9 September 2017 • 8:47am Shoot at Irma A Florida man who suggested shooting guns at Hurricane Irma out of "stress and boredom" has found that his idea has captured peoples' imaginations - with over 46,000 signing up to join in.

Hurricane Irma is due to hit Florida on Saturday, and the state is currently experiencing the largest ever mass evacuation due to a hurricane in American history.

But Ryon Edwards, 22, came up with a novel way of amusing himself during the storm: firing bullets into it.

He started a Facebook "event", and as of Friday evening 46,000 people say they are interested.

"A combination of stress and boredom made me start the event," he told the BBC.

"The response is a complete and total surprise to me.

"I never envisioned this event becoming some kind of crazy idea larger than myself. It has become something a little out of my control."

The "Shoot at Irma" page Graphics suggesting how to shoot at a hurricane have sprung up online, with the suggestion that if you fire correctly the bullet might not come back and kill you.

Since Mr Edwards came up with his "masterplan", other similar Facebook pages have been created - including one suggesting using flame throwers to scare away the storm.

"It's time we took a stand against this bully!" reads the event description. "This is our home, nobody drives us out of our own territory.

"Join me in this fight as we shoot flames at Hurricane Irma and dissipate her on the spot."”

Thanks!

Also, that seems like a good way to end up shooting someone or someone's stuff.

This sounds a lot like when we tell kids "if an earthquake starts, get under something strong and hold on. Then yell, "STOP EARTHQUAKE, STOP!" until the shaking finally stops." Of course it doesn't affect the earthquake, but it feels better than crouching helpless and silent. (It might also help an adult know that you're okay so far, and where to look for you afterward.) Sometimes a false sense of agency is better than nothing.

Sure, but yelling isn't going to have any risk of accidental collateral damage. Encouraging a bunch of fucking idiots to shoot wildly at clouds seems asking for tragedy.

Yes, it's true the bullets will fall.

But at least the less-idiotic people will be protected by having sought shelter from the storm.

Hurricanes usually don't produce much lightning at all. We get way more during a regular afternoon thunderstorm.

In order to force a lightning strike you need to bring the charged particles closer together, increase conductivity of the air or increase the amount of charged particles. If a bullet can do any of this, it may cause a lightning strike

It seems plausible that the vapor trail of changing air pressure behind a bullet could create a momentary channel of increased conductivity and/or particle density as air rushes back into the void created by the passing projectile. I wonder if the effect is persistent enough to enable a static discharge all along the path though.