why does some lightning seeks the ground while others go across the sky? What happens to the plasma?

Question

why does some lightning seeks the ground while others go across the sky? What happens to the plasma?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Don’t know about the first part of your question. I can say that I’m pretty certain lightning doesn’t go across the sky, it always goes either from sky to ground or ground to sky, but I’m not 100% on that.

As for what happens to the plasma, once the electricity has stopped flowing through it, it loses its heat quickly, and just turns back into normal air.