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Why does lightning strike? To find out,
let’s look inside a thundercloud.
Chilly air freezes tiny water droplets
into icy bits. Then swirling winds toss the
ice around.
CRASH! BOOM! BAM! Electrons get
knocked off the smaller slivers. They stick
to the larger bits of ice. That makes the
larger pieces negatively charged. And the
smaller slivers become positively charged.
The larger, heavier pieces fall. But air currents lift the smaller,
lighter pieces up. Soon, the top of the cloud is positively
charged. And the bottom is negatively charged.
What happens next? Negative charges attract positive
charges. That means the ground below the thunderhead
becomes positively charged. When the difference between the
positive charges on the ground and the negative charges in
the cloud is great enough, LOOK OUT! A sizzling stream of
electricity bursts out of the cloud and plunges downward.
A Look at
Lightning
