why do street lights from a distance look like they're flickering?

Answer 1

Currents of air make the light refract differently... same reason as stars twinkle (currents of air in the atmosphere etc).

Answer 2

Not particularly. My standards for fantasy have gone up the more I read outside the genre. A couple notes. Lose the name Cadaver, it sounds hokey. Unless you introduce the man with the story of his name, the fact that you call him cadaver just sounds like you've named him Dick Strongjaw. We haven't met the man. This is page one, we're watching an unknown character, yet we know her name is ***** Galore. If you want to sell a name like Cadaver, show us his name, don't tell us. Skip the red cloak bit, if you're going to invent slang for your fantasy world, you need to avoid using terms that are lifted from a more well known author. It also sounds false when your omniscient narrator is using it, rather than in the speech of the characters.

Answer 3

Lights oscillate at a certain frequency giving the impression of twinkling from a distance.

Answer 4

What you're seeing is lots of motor traffic passing in front of them, constantly; hence, you see the light between one car and the next, then no light when the car's in the way of the light, and so on. Does that make sense?

Answer 5

Because the air between you and the light causes refraction. It is the same reason that stars 'twinkle' (They don't from outside the atmosphere)

Answer 6

Despite all the clever answers I think you can safely say it's due to all the shite in the air causing diffraction of the light

Answer 7

they are sodium lamps
and electricity in the uk " cycles " at 50 hz
( cycles) per second
this gives the effect of flickering

Answer 8

they get hot and the air around them moves so the dust around them moves etc mb

Answer 9

becouse he is flickering. What you see is what you get.