What causes lightning and thunder?

Answer 1

Lightning is an electrical discharge between positively and negatively charged regions, usually cloud-to-cloud or cloud-to-ground, typically generated by thunderstorms.

Thunder is an acoustic wave caused by the expansion of air around a lightning discharge. The temperature of the air ionized by a lightning bolt can be several thousand degrees Celsius, and its expansion reaches supersonic velocity. This shock wave creates the sound vibration known as thunder, which travels at the speed of sound from the bolt (about 340 m/sec or 1225 kph at sea level).

In English units, this allows an approximate calculation of the distance from the bolt in miles. This is done by dividing the time in seconds between the flash and the sound by 5 (the speed being about 1116 ft/sec). In metric terms, about every 3 seconds is a kilometer. However, this includes a vertical component, altitude, so is not very accurate.

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lighting is made because warm air and warm air mix together. the warm air goes up and makes clouds. the warm air is positive and the cold is negative. when to much negitve builds up at the bottom of the cloud it lets ou a bolt of energy or lighting.
Lightning is a massive electrostatic discharge between electrically charged regions within clouds, or between a cloud and the Earth's surface. The charged regions within the atmosphere temporarily equalize themselves through a lightning flash, commonly referred to as a strike if it hits an object on the ground.

Answer 2

Inside a storm cloud, warm air is lifted rapidly as cooler air sinks. The movement of air can cause different parts of a cloud to become oppositely charged. When current flows between regions of opposite electrical charge, lightning flashes.

Thunder results from the rapid heating of air around a bolt of lightning. (Lightning can reach temperatures of about 30,000 degrees Celsius.)

Answer 3

Lightning is caused by an electric potential difference (a voltage) being created between one cloud and another, or between a cloud and the ground. A charge of electrons builds up on the higher cloud while a lack of electrons occurs on the lower part. When this buildup/lack is large enough, a large amount of energy has been stored. It all releases at one time, forcing an electric current through the sky and allowing the charges to equalize; it also turns most of that energy into heat and light which were we see as lightning.

Thunder is created when the lightning passes. As the air is superheated by the lightning, it expands by a large amount - it basically explodes (compression). However after the lightning has passed and the energy dissipated, the area where it passed through is now at a lower pressure. This creates a suction and air rushes in to fill the gap extremely quickly (rarefaction). Together these actions form a sound wave which we hear as the thunder.

In a thunderstorm moisture-laden air rises and the moisture condenses to form a towering cumulonimbus cloud. The lower portion of the cloud is made of tiny water droplets while the upper portion is made of ice crystals. Collisions between droplets and ice crystals causes electrical charges to build up. That static electricity releases enormous discharges we call lightning. The lightning instantly heats air to thousands of years, causing it to expand rapidly and create a shock wave that we hear as thunder.

Answer 4

It deals with the water cycle, first comes evaporation where all the humidity goes into the air, making enough molecules for condensation, which creates dark cloud formation and leads to precipitation which is rain from the clouds and scientifically speaking, eventual thunder storms.