I want to let my thoughts out and note this on here.
I thought of posting the visual similarities between root, lightning, human blood vessel and electricity. I know they're different, but they look similar to each other.
Roots, blood vessels, lightning, and electricity share a similar appearance due to their branching, tree like structures. All these structures exhibit fractal patterns, where similar shapes repeat at different scales.
In nature, branching designs optimize the distribution of resources. For roots, this means maximizing surface area for water and nutrient absorption. For blood vessels, it ensures efficient blood flow, and for electrical pathways, it minimizes resistance and ensures effective conduction.
The growth patterns of trees and the paths of lightning are influenced by the need to connect different points in the most efficient way possible.
Then, I read the history of lightning in The Lightning Discharge from International Geophysics Series vol.39 by M.A. Uman (1987):
Lightning and thunder have always produced fear and respect in mankind, as is evident from the significant role that they have played in the religions and mythologies of all but the most modern of civilizations.
According to Schonland (1964), who reviews 5000 years of nonscientific views on lightning and thunder, early statues of Buddha show him carrying a thunderbolt with arrowheads at each end. (The word thunderbolt is commonly used in the nonscientific literature to refer to cloud-to-ground lightning. That lightning is usually depicted as some form of arrow.) In ancient Egypt, the god Typhon (Seth) hurled the thunderbolts. The ancient Vedic books of India described how Indra, the son of Heaven and Earth, carried thunderbolts on his chariot. A Sumerian seal dating to about 2500 B.C, depicts the lightning goddess Zarpenik riding on the wind with a bundle of thunderbolts in each hand. A reproduction of that seal is found in Prinz (1977) who provides additional perspective on the role of lightning in mythology.
In ancient Greece, lightning was viewed as punishment sent by Zeus, the father of the gods, or by members of his family. The chief god of the Romans, Jupiter or Jove, was thought to use thunderbolts not only as retribution but also as a warning against undesirable behavior. The eagle emblem of Jupiter is shown on the United States one dollar bill with thunderbolts clasped in one of its talons and the olive branch of peace in the other. Interestingly, the planet Jupiter was observed by the Voyager 2 spacecraft to be the source of luminous impulses that are probably lightning. In Rome, from before 300 B.c. to as late as the fourth century a.p., the College of Augurs, composed of distinguished Roman citizens, was charged with the responsibility of determining the wishes of Jupiter relative to State affairs. This was accomplished by making observations on three classes of objects in the sky: birds, meteors, and lightning. In the case of the latter, the observation was always made while looking south, and the location of the lightning relative to the direction of observation was taken as a sign of Jupiter’s approval or disapproval.
Perhaps the most famous of the ancient gods associated with lightning was Thor, the fierce god of the Norsemen, who produced lightning as his hammer struck his anvil while he rode his chariot thunderously across the clouds. Thursday, the fifth day of the week, is derived from Thor’s Day. In modern Danish, for example, that day is Torsday, in German Donnerstag (thunder-day), and in Italian Giovedi (Jove’s Day). In Scandinavia, meteorites are referred to as thunderstones, in deference to the view that the foreign material comprising such stones are broken pieces of Thor’s hammer. In many other cultures meteorites are associated with thunder and lightning, and it is often believed that they have magical powers to protect against lightning (Nichols, 1965; Prinz, 1977).
Some Indian tribes of North America, as well as certain tribes in Africa (Schonland, 1984; Prinz, 1977), held the belief that lightning was due to the flashing feathers of a mystical thunderbird whose flapping wings produced the sounds of thunder. Drawings of the thunderbird are commonly seen in American Indian Art and are widely used commercially, for example, as the name and symbol of a modern automobile.
Contributions to our present understanding of lightning have come from researchers throughout the world.