explain briefly how lightning occurs
Answers
Answer:
Lightning happens when the negative charges (electrons) in the bottom of the cloud are attracted to the positive charges (protons) in the ground.
Lightning can be explained in terms of charges produced due to rubbing. During a thunderstorm, the air currents move upwards and the water droplets move downwards. And this caused due to the separation of charge due to this vigorous motion. As a result of this process, the positive charges collect near the upper edge and the negative charges accumulate near the lower edge of the cloud and also near the ground.
As the charge gets accumulated, its magnitude becomes very large. Water droplets in the air act as a conductor of this charge. These charges flow to meet, thus producing strikes of lightning and thunder. For this phenomenon to occur, a sufficiently high electric potential between two regions and a high resistance medium must be present.