The upper part of the thunderstorm cloud becomes positively charged while the middle to the lower part of the thunderstorm cloud becomes negatively charged. The larger and denser graupel is either suspended in the middle of the thunderstorm cloud or falls toward the lower part of the storm. The updraft carries the positively charged ice crystals upward toward the top of the storm cloud. When the rising ice crystals collide with graupel, the ice crystals become positively charged and the graupel becomes negatively charged see Figure 2. The differences in the movement of the precipitation cause collisions to occur. (Figure 2) When the rising ice crystals collide with graupel, the ice crystals become positively charged and the graupel becomes negatively charged. At the same time, the graupel, which is considerably larger and denser, tends to fall or be suspended in the rising air. The updraft carries the super-cooled cloud droplets and very small ice crystals upward. In that area, the combination of temperature and rapid upward air movement produces a mixture of super-cooled cloud droplets (small water droplets below freezing), small ice crystals, and graupel (soft hail). The main charging area in a thunderstorm occurs in the central part of the storm where air is moving upward rapidly (updraft) and temperatures range from −15 to −25 ☌ (5 to −13 ☏) see Figure 1. Uncharged, colliding water-drops can become charged because of charge transfer between them (as aqueous ions) in an electric field as would exist in a thunder cloud. Electrification can be by the triboelectric effect leading to electron or ion transfer between colliding bodies. The details of the charging process are still being studied by scientists, but there is general agreement on some of the basic concepts of thunderstorm electrification. More studies are warranted to clarify their relationship.Įlectrification (Figure 1) The main charging area in a thunderstorm occurs in the central part of the storm where the air is moving upward rapidly (updraft) and temperatures range from −15 to −25 ☌ (5 to −13 ☏). Lightning is also the major cause of wildfire, and wildfire can contribute to climate change as well. However, lightning may also improve air quality and clean greenhouse gases such as methane from the atmosphere, while creating nitrogen oxide and ozone at the same time. There is growing evidence that lightning activity is increased by particulate emissions (a form of air pollution). The first surviving photograph is from 1882, by William Nicholson Jennings, a photographer who spent half his life capturing pictures of lightning and proving its diversity. The first known photograph of lightning is from 1847, by Thomas Martin Easterly. The fear of lightning is called astraphobia. At all times people have been fascinated by the sight and difference of lightning. Idiomatic expressions derived from lightning, such as the English expression 'bolt from the blue', are common across languages. Humans have deified lightning for millennia. Many other observational variants are recognized, including ' heat lightning', which can be seen from a great distance but not heard dry lightning, which can cause forest fires and ball lightning, which is rarely observed scientifically.

The three main kinds of lightning are distinguished by where they occur: either inside a single thundercloud (intra-cloud), between two clouds (cloud-to-cloud), or between a cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground), in which case it is referred to as a lightning strike. Lightning is an atmospheric electrical phenomenon and contributes to the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Lightning occurs commonly during thunderstorms as well as other types of energetic weather systems, but volcanic lightning can also occur during volcanic eruptions. Lightning causes thunder, a sound from the shock wave which develops as gases in the vicinity of the discharge experience a sudden increase in pressure. This discharge may produce a wide range of electromagnetic radiation, from heat created by the rapid movement of electrons, to brilliant flashes of visible light in the form of black-body radiation. Lightning is a natural phenomenon formed by electrostatic discharges through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions, either both in the atmosphere or with one in the atmosphere and on the ground, temporarily neutralizing these in a near-instantaneous release of an average of one gigajoule of energy.

Lightning 4s