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magnified millions of times. The discharge between cloud and ground is accompanied by currents which dissipate themselves over the ground surface. A study of static electricity reveals that the cloud charge prefers to discharge to a sharp pointed object rather than to other shapes. This, coupled with the rela-
Idealized thin-plate two-dimensional mountain. tive closeness of the summit of a mountain to the cloud, is the reason for the danger at the top of the mountain. However, where there are low clouds and a ridge, discharge is likely to occur to points on the ridge rather than to the summit. This can be seen in the figure. Once discharge has occurred, the current flows over the surface of the rock toward the base of the mountain. It |
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