Lightning Can Strike the Same Place Twice

The popular adage about lightning's reluctance to revisit a location is a classic example of folklore trumping physics. In reality, lightning is a massive electrical discharge seeking the path of least resistance to the ground. Since air is a poor electrical conductor, any tall object—a skyscraper, a radio tower, or a mountain peak—provides a convenient shortcut that shortens the distance the charge must travel through the air. This is why prominent structures are not just struck once, but are hit repeatedly. The Empire State Building, for example, serves as