Lightning What is Lightning Lightning is a natural

Lightning

What is Lightning? • Lightning is a natural example of electrical discharge. • Electrical discharge is the sudden movement of static charge (electrons) between two objects. • The two objects involved in lightning are the ground and the clouds.

How is Lightning Formed? • Lightning is caused by an imbalance of charges between a cloud and the ground. • In a storm, positive charges move to the top of the cloud and negative charges move to the bottom. • Draw the charges separating in the cloud:

• This separation in charges causes the charges in the ground to separate as well, this brings the positive charges to the surface of the Earth. • When the difference in charges between the cloud and the ground is great enough a surge of electrons is released in a bolt called lightning.

Draw a diagram of lightning striking the ground:

Why Does Lightning Look Jagged? • Lightning will always find the Draw the electrons in the following diagram: fastest path to the ground. • This is why lightning will generally strike the tallest objects. • The path of lightning is jagged because as it travels to the ground it is repelled by electrons in the air.

Let’s Watch Some Lightning! • http: //videos. howstuffworks. com/discovery/ 406 -discovery-wonders-of-weatherlightning-phenomena-video. htm • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=n. Cm 2 U Cj 6 e. DU • http: //dsc. discovery. com/videos/ragingplanet-upward-lighting. html