the path of least resistance in this case is where the air ionized, when current starts flowing it gets hot, expands and raises, making an arc. So we could blame the weird shape to thermodynamic properties over electrical ones
And that arc flash’s temperature is several times hotter than the surface of the sun. It’s hot enough to instantly vaporize any surrounding metal, meaning that if you manage to survive being near an arc flash, there’s a chance that you’ll end up with tiny metal shards in your lungs, when they cool down after you breathe them in. Arc flashes are scary stuff.
Arc flash hazard training messed me up. They showed a video where a guy is working on some switchgear when suddenly the frame is all white and then the guy is just GONE, but the floor and everything around where he was is a different, very red, color. That “if” regarding survival is doing some heavy lifting.
Grandpa worked in a power station back in the days of yore.
Left the generator they were working on as he needed a tool. While he was gone an arc flash deleted his co-worker.
Anything’s a wire if you piss off the pixies badly enough.
