This is what some scientists believe causes lightning. In thunderstorms, large fields of electricity are built up in the clouds when liquid and small ice particles reach freezing and collide. When these fields are large enough, a huge spark happens between them (static electricity) lessening the charge separation. A spark of lightning can happen between clouds, between the cloud and the ground or between a cloud and air.
In the United States more than a 100 people die each year and approximately 250 people are injured from lightning strikes. Florida has more cases of lightning strikes than any other part of the United States due to the numerous thunderstorms that occur there each year.
Thunderstorms can occur without much warning. Skies could be blue one moment and then a big black thunderhead could come up suddenly bringing rain, wind and lightning.
Lightning Facts
Lightning strikes about one hundred times per second somewhere on the earth which is approximately three billion times per year.
Lightning can strike miles away from a thunderstorm. If you see dark heavy clouds in the distance find shelter. Even though it seems far away and your feel safe be aware that lightning could strike. Here are some tips to keep you safe if you are outdoors during a lightning storm.
Get away from things that are prone to attract bolts of lightning:
Metal objects (including fences, pipes, rails, vehicles etc.)
Open bodies of water
Areas with large groups of people
Trees
Telephone poles
It's not a good idea to stand on a hill or at the highest point of an area. Seek the lowest area you can find such as a valley or a ravine. Lightning will hit the tallest point, so make sure you are not the tallest point.
If you find yourself in an open field without shelter when a lightning storm approaches, get on your knees, bend forward and put your hands on your knees. Do not lie flat on the ground. If your hair feels like it is standing on end, be very cautious because this is a warning signal that lightning might be targeting you.
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== == well correct me if i am wrong but it comes from the clouds and the friction of the clouds like when you play with a balloon and when you put it by your hair it makes your hair stick up.... well its just like that but bigger...another example would be this is something cool you can see at home if you want* after you do a load of socks if there are some stuck together turn off the lights and take them apart slowly and you can see a little bit of electricity in them
but I hope that was 100% accurate because that's all Ii can remember from my science class from like 4 years ago.... so hope that helped -this answer is technically right^^ lightning is just the build up of electrons in the clouds (or ground rarely but sometimes) and needs a quick ruit to the ground, it results in a lightning strike. I'm in grade 9 doing a science project on lightning so I learned a lot^^ good answer above there though! ___________________________________________________________________________________ The above answer is sorta correct but not really and the next answer is more correct than the first but needs some improvement. When you have a thunderstorm that forms from convection and differences in temperature across a frontal boundary, you start to get differing charges between the cloud base and the ground. When the difference in charge gets great enough between the cloud base and the ground, turning the air from a insulator into a conductor, a negatively charged stepped leader comes down from the cloud base and meets a positively charged return stroke from the ground. When this happens, we see visible lightning and positive charge is carried up into the cloud base, while negative charge is carried down into the ground, essentially it is a transfer of both of the charges involved in the electrical discharge. This lightning strike is called a negative strike because the stepped leader is negatively charged. There is also something called a positive lightning strike, where enough differing charge builds up between the top of the cumulonimbus cloud and the ground and the same transfer of positive and negative charges happens, but the stepped leader from the top of the cloud in this case is positively charged and the return stroke from the ground is negatively charged. Initially the top of the cloud is positively charged, the cloud base is negatively charged, and the ground is positively charged. Positive strikes are possible after several negative strikes between the cloud base and the ground have happened. Lastly, lightning strikes can go out a maximum of 10 miles ahead and behind the storm, so remember just the because it looks like the storm has passed, doesn't mean the threat of lightning doesn't exist. This is a more complete answer to your question.
It comes from the clouds
the charge of a lightning is positive and negative. The positive is on the top of a lightning cloud and the negative is surrounded on the bottom. As it flashes down it is a negative. However, the ground is a positive charge so as it reaches down, it turns into a positive charge. I hope this will answer you question
Because there is a difference in the charge states of the earth and the clouds, resulting from the static electricity built up by water molecules moving about in the thundercloud. When this difference in charge states is equalized, there is usually a visible arc, which we call lightning.
Lightning
5 COLOUMBS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!??!?!?! That is a lot of lightning
No. A charged raincloud does a pretty good job of transferring its charge to the ground, through the phenomenon we call "lightning".
Lightning has an negative charge
Comes from electrically charged particles in the clouds. They get charged by bouncing off of one another and then when the charge overflows it makes lightning.
because it creates a charge and lightning needs eather a negitive charge or a positive charge
A bolt of lightning is almost pure electrons ... so the charge is negative.
No, lightning does not affect the sun.
Lightning is static electricity. It's a buildup of charge, and it is facilitated by charge separation. In that light, it is DC.
The charge separates.
the charge of a lightning is positive and negative. The positive is on the top of a lightning cloud and the negative is surrounded on the bottom. As it flashes down it is a negative. However, the ground is a positive charge so as it reaches down, it turns into a positive charge. I hope this will answer you question
Yes, that's basically what lightning is about - a discharge of this accumulated charge.
Lightning is formed by particles in the clouds, that on the top forms a Positive charge, and on the bottom a Negative charge, these particles continue to form, and when there are to many particles in the clouds, some need to go, and when they go, they come out as Static electricity, which this is called Lightning, and the more particles there are, the more will need to be given, and that means the more lightning there is.
Lightning is just really large static. Lightning between clouds is called cloud lightning or sheet lightning and is caused when one cloud has an excessive charge and another cloud has an excessive amount of the opposite cloud. The lightning is used to relieve the clouds charge.
A lightning rod is grounded, meaning it connects to the ground, and the ground is the last place the charge flows to. It is absorbed into the planet Earth.