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moron4hiretoday at 2:21 PM1 replyview on HN

Lightning is static electricity that builds in an atmosphere.


Replies

zamadatixtoday at 4:06 PM

And a mountain is a bump on the ground. It does feel like "lightning" comes with context beyond how the charge was formed, even if it could be technically correct to say that's all it is. Of course almost nobody knows what triboelectric discharge is either, but sticking to "static electricity" fits well between the two.