system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why does lightning strike in a zig-zag pattern?

What causes lightning to strike in zig-zag patterns instead of just a straight line? Be it cloud to ground or cloud to cloud, what causes the direction of the lightning?
gpt
Lightning will follow the path of least electrical resistance to reach the ground. However, that path is not always (practically never) straight down. Some patches of air will have slightly more electrical resistance than other patches at the moment the lightning strikes, and the charge will flow along the path of least resistance.