It seems like when you see clips of lightning striking in the American Midwest, the lightning is far away and appears to be fairly large in width given the distance from the camera. And then when you see clips of a tree that is 20 feet away getting struck, the bolts of lightning appear about the same width as those that could be miles away.
So my question is, is the apparent similarity in width between distant bolts and close bolts just a coincidence or a case of selective memory on my part? And most importantly, on average, how "wide" is a bolt of lightning?
So my question is, is the apparent similarity in width between distant bolts and close bolts just a coincidence or a case of selective memory on my part? And most importantly, on average, how "wide" is a bolt of lightning?