If lightning hits a body of water will there be a splash?

Answer

In all effect there is little evidence that lightning striking a body of water will create a splash. This is due to there having being very little research on this topic as lightning doesn't often strike over bodies of water mainly due to the fact that bodies of water are usually cooler than land during the warmer summer months that thunderstorms are prevalent. It is for this reason thunderstorms are less likely to develop over water than over land. Another reason why there is little research on water and lightning is that lightning tends to strike the highest point and water is generally the lowest point around. Think of it this way. If you are in a boat conducting lightning research it will be the boat that gets hit and not the water.

Answer

Actually, lightning does not travel from the clouds to the ground as many people speculate. It actually is shot off from both sources (the ground and sky) and meet in the middle. Therefore, lightning would not nessecarily make a splash in the water. It might heat it up to boiling point and flash boil it, but there would be no splash. It is just like static electricity. There is no sign of a cut on your finger. Trust me, I study meterological science. :)

Answer

I would think, since the resulting thunder is an explosion caused by the rapidly expanding gasses, that there would be some splash, minute perhaps. So not the lightning itself, but the thunder maybe.

Answer

When the static discharge travels from the surface to the charged air, the point where it exits is superheated to many hundred degrees F. when this happens the water flash boils and it explodes, which looks like something just "hit" the surface with an object. In many years of sailing i have seen this only twice from a distance when the thunderstorm was over the open ocean. As an edit to the first answer, thunderstorms do form over bodies of water quite often. all you need for a thunderstorm is MIL. Moisture, Instability, Lift. lets see what we have over a body of water that has a mean temp of 70F. Moisture (check) Instability (check) sun heating the surface of the ocean creates warm water vapor) Lift (check) rising water vapor is its own lift mechanism.

First answer by Anthony Griffin. Last edit by Flyinreallyhigh. Contributor trust: 43 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 138 [recommend question]