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Re: The Electrum Project



Original poster: Greg Leyh <lod@xxxxxxxxxxx>



Original poster: "Dmitry (father dest)" <dest@xxxxxxxxxxx>

[snip]

"The "return stroke" produces more than 99% of a lightning bolt's luminosity
and is what we see as lightning.
After the return stroke ceases flowing up the channel, there is a pause of
about 20 to 50 milliseconds. After that, if enough charge is still available
within the cloud, another leader can propagate down to the ground. This
leader is called a "dart leader" because it uses the channel already
established by the stepped leader and therefore has a continuous path."

then i can`t understand - why do you talk about those dart leaders? the
stepped leader influences the spark length - isn`t it?


You're correct. I went back and read Uman's 'Lightning' to get my terminology straight. I am referring specifically to the originating stepped leaders, that propagate through undisturbed air to trigger the main strike. Stepped leaders as described by Uman can occur both before and after the main strike, but dart leaders occur afterwards, becoming stepped leaders if the channel cools sufficiently.
Personally, I would have referred to the post-strike streamer events as 'followers,' and pre-strike events as 'leaders.' ^_^


-GL