two lightning bolts create electricity!!!

[Leo17]

ok so i was thinking...if lightning is static electricity and static electricity is created by friction and lightning has matter to cause friction.....then if two lightning bolts collide into each other wont it cause friction and create more static electricity....this just popped into my head and no one has been able to answer it for me so im hoping that someone on here can thanks!

 

[arthur0]

First of all, lightning is regular electricity (nothing "static" about it).
Secondly, only friction (contact, really) against 2 materials of which at least one is insulating produce what is called "static" electricity (and that is a very misused term, since it's just a buildup of charged particles).
Thirdly, the matter won't actually move/flow with an electrical current (lightning in this case) so there won't be that kind of friction that causes charge buildup (not to mention that in a lightning the air is no longer insulating so there won't be a buildup at all).
But then, what if it did? I'm sure the laws of physics will still hold.

 

[DXNewcastle]

If two hard objects are moving and travel on a trajectory which brings them both into the same space, we say they 'collide', because they cannot both simultaneously occupy the same space. There might be some recoil, some fragmentation, distortion or other consequence of the collision though the total momentum will be maintained.

If two electric currents are moving and travel on a trajectory which brings them into the same space, they merge and the total current increases. (The path they then follow is not principally a matter of momentum but a function of the conductivity of the atmosphere.

Two lightning bolts may merge, but it would not be a 'collision' in the sense that moving objects can 'collide' when they converge in the same space. There are images of lightning forking and merging in nature.

 

[Leo17]

so from the initial impact no more electricity will be created?

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 13:16 ----------

so what your saying is that no more electricity could be created from to electrical arches impacting each other?

 

[DXNewcastle]

so from the initial impact no more electricity will be created?

Correct.
And there is no 'impact' (see post above).

so what your saying is that no more electricity could be created from to electrical arches impacting each other?

Yes.
There is no 'impact'.
Two electric currents don't 'collide' or 'impact' as rigid physical objects do. There isn't a 'collision' when two batteries are connected in parallel, and the higher voltages of a lightning discharge doesn't change that fact.

 

[betwixt]

I should add that it is very dangerous to rub two lightning bolts together and I do not recommend you try it at home. At the very least wear good oven gloves that can withstand the heat and also wear sun glasses. To prevent electric shock, you should use an anti-static wrist strap and a static dissipative 'lab' coat. Never do it alone, you should leave details of your next of kin with someone who is standing a considerable distance away.

Brian 8O