lightening

[Sarah1970]

Does lightening come from the sky or the ground?

[furrycheeky]

Quick answer :From the sky.

[gen2]

Always the sky. The sun is the source of light and the sky will start to lighten in the East some time before dawn and the lightening will continue as the sun gets higher.

However, If you actually meant to ask about lightning, then the answer is both. During a thunderstorm, clouds can become both positively charged and negatively charged. Electrons flow from negative to positive.

[jake-the-peg]

It's complicated.

There's a "leader" that extends from the clouds, positive "streamers" join the leaders from the ground completing the circuit.

You also get other types of lightning which work differently .

Predictably wikipedia has a good section on it all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning

[causeNeffect]

lightening shoots from the ground up...... the way it seems 2fork down from the sky is an optical illusion, as our eyes cant capture the speed at which a lightening bolt travels. it's a static charge created between to points and then the potential energy is converted into kenetic and the charge jumps.....