Robert Pilotte, Age 13, Of St. Pierre, Manitoba, Canada, for his question:

Why is lightning crooked?

A streak of lightning is a searing discharge of electricity cutting its way through a storm cloud. The cloudy air is loaded with moisture in the form of sizable raindrops, miniature droplets of mist and gaseous water vapor. The scaring streak of electricity travels miles in a split second, too fast for the foist air to move away from its path.

The stormy air resists the lightning, trying to block its path. The lightning zigs and zags from side to side as it finds patches of less resistance in the turbulent cloud. After the first flash, the same zig zag path may be used by another and another flash, following each other in a fraction of a second.