Cosmic particles result in lightning

[blimkie]

Main Question or Discussion Point

i recently read and article say 2 months ago in the ottawa sun but my memory is fuzzy and i did not get to finish the article
im not sure if this has been discussed on here or not and if this is the correst palce to post this but
a sceintest was claiming that our understanding of that we wer taught in school was incorrect and that lightin was caused by cosmic particles or solar flares sumting fo that nature slamming into thunderclouds, i havnt been able to find the article again, if any one has any information or opinions on this theroy let me know because it really cought my attention
thanks

 

[Theoretician]

I read about this in New Scientist magazine. It postulated that cosmic rays caused lightning. Unfortunately, you cannot access the internet page to view the whole article without subscription (http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg18624981.200).

 

[blimkie]

damnit i dont have a subscription o well

 

[Danger]

There was also an article about it in Scientific American a few months ago. Your local library or college might have a copy.

 

[Spin_Network]

i recently read and article say 2 months ago in the ottawa sun but my memory is fuzzy and i did not get to finish the article
im not sure if this has been discussed on here or not and if this is the correst palce to post this but
a sceintest was claiming that our understanding of that we wer taught in school was incorrect and that lightin was caused by cosmic particles or solar flares sumting fo that nature slamming into thunderclouds, i havnt been able to find the article again, if any one has any information or opinions on this theroy let me know because it really cought my attention
thanks

You can do a google for "sprites", this is what mega-lightning has been called,here is a link that has some interesting aspects to the phenonema:
http://www.holoscience.com/news/balloon.html