Oddbean

they are simplified versions of the roots-and-tree geometry of the electrostatic shock emerging from the ground, as it travels upwards they move towards each other because the electricity converts the atmosphere into plasma, which is more conductive than normal inert atmosphere in normal conditions, and then the top part splays out as it has to go wider again to complete the circuit in the ionosphere the "legs and arms" shape is because the regions of lower resistance through which the arc travels from the ground tend to be small central zones in the middle of a higher conduction area, bubbles of magma under the ground, or similar, or worn down river valleys and plains, or highly conductive chunks of material like large bodies of rock formed from volcanic eruptions (these are full of magnesium/iron/silicates, ie basalt)

https://png.pngtree.com/thumb_back/fw800/background/20240423/pngtree-a-stunning-of-volcanic-lightning-image_15718905.jpg volcanic lightning is a smaller scale form of the phenomena and you can see that it resembles the upper half of these diagrams

the only protection i can think of from this kind of discharge would be inside a faraday cage, and importantly, it can't be an earthed faraday cage, ideally it has a very strong insulator coating around the conductive material a properly designed, heavy (like 2 feet thick) concrete bunker structure with a mesh of like 6" grid inside it that has been deliberately welded to become a complete conductive shell would probably be necessary to be able to survive this, and probably it would also help if the structure was spheroid or conical so if there is a huge discharge that passes through, it has minimal chance of going inside the cage my idea of a prefab concrete dome bunker continues to escalate the shape of the conductive mesh should also extend outwards and sideways to ensure it doesn't go through the centre, and probably ultimately you want it to just be a straight up sphere with heavy conductors in a classic cat-ball style cage, with weaker conductors in a fairly close mesh to keep charge from not going to the thick conductors

well, if it's that much energy you be way too close to a low resistance section of the crust i'm gonna start thinking about how that can be estimated i'd guess that since in general thunderstorms are electrons coming down from clouds, that were seeded by those electrons negatively charging dust, that a historical map of lightning strikes would help avoid a likely patch where a giant zap could erupt suddenly after way too much energy comes from a CME there's probably some kind of electrical resistance value that you can map to different soil types as well, and then from that make a heat map of potential lower resistance areas of the surface to avoid

yeah, i thought of that the other day... that the sun is literally dumping jigawatts of power on us on a regular basis, and all we have to do is plug into the ground where it can be pulled out and create electric potential difference the thing that i don't know about is how you take violent electrostatic energy and safely apply it to work without fusing everything, it's probably some kind of tuning problem

here: https://geology.com/articles/lightning-map/lightning-strikes-map-lg.jpg goodness... mongolia and siberia keep on looking better note also, egypt is pretty calm - must be all that desert, lower mineral content and deeper layers of pure silicate sand

oooh... maybe the reason why that region of northeast africa is so insulated is BECAUSE it was a location of a recent past cosmic thunderbolt the sheer thickness of the crust over mongolia explains its resistance level though mongolia is looking better and metter for my future migration plans