Slow-Motion Lightning Video

In this amazing video, a slow-motion camera captures the strange and beautiful electricity dance that is a lightning strike. (h/t BuzzFeed)

[WATCH]

Comments

[KingGeorgetheShrub]

Great view, it's amazing what we don't see. I love watching high speed photography. I wonder how many FPS this was?

[JBS]

15,000

[sector1463]

Incredible!

[SamEllison]

So maybe the tinfoil hat wasn't a good idea!

[Schnitzel]

Here's a still I took in Virginia a couple of years ago:

http://mysite.verizon.net/jaysonp251/pages/lightning05.htm

it doesn't move but they put it on TV anyway!

[PDXTransplant]

Nice pic!

You can post on Webshots for free. I do it.

[Big0725]

Great picture! Keep up the good work.

[ksyellowdog]

it is a high speed camera, not a slow motion camera! The camera takes hundreds of frames per second verses the standard 24-30.

[fearwig]

Slow motion is done with high speed cameras.

Same thing.

[jlynwin]

Hey you are right ! Where is McSame's flag pin? TMI, Visions I didn't need just went running through my head.

[fearwig]

Wrong article?

[AdV2k1]

the first few seconds were cool but it was just a still picture for the last bit.

[Slowride]

It's not a still picture at the end. You are seeing the entire lifespan of what we would consider a single lightning strike, but it's recorded at an extremely high frame rate. So those last several seconds are actually occurring in probably less than .001 second.

Ain't technology grand?

[Big0725]

What looked like a still was actually the lightning completely discharging in multiple strokes down the shaft of ionized air. Once a conduit is established, it will keep discharging until the voltage potential dissipates.