the.com/lightning bolt
The sky's way of returning a text in five unmistakable words of light.
means A visible flash of electrical discharge in the sky (or the strike it makes to the ground), typically accompanied by thunder.
from 'Lightning' comes from Middle English 'lightnen,' itself built on 'light' — literally the verb for 'to shine suddenly.' 'Bolt' traces to Old English 'bolt,' meaning a short, stout arrow shot from a crossbow; by extension it came to mean any sudden, swift, missile-like force, which is why we pair it with lightning — the sky firing something.
- temperature
- hotter than the surface of the sun
- speed
- travels at roughly 270,000 mph
- shape myth
- rarely a neat zigzag, usually branching and jagged
- odds
- same spot can get struck repeatedly, lightning plays favorites