The
process of lighting
Lighting is
one of the most beautiful yet deadly phenomenons of nature, however many people don’t know how
it is formed. Lighting begins with the cycle of water. In the process of the water cycle, moisture can accumulate in the
atmosphere. This accumulation is what we see as a cloud. As the process of
evaporation and condensation continues, these droplets collide other moisture
that is in the process of condensing as it rises. Also, the rising moisture may
collide with ice or sleet that is in the process of falling to the earth or located
in the lower portion of the cloud. The importance of these collisions
is that electrons are knocked off of the rising moisture, thus creating a charge
separation. When there is a charge separation in a cloud, there
is also an electric
field that is associated with the separation. While the rising
moisture encounters colder temperatures in the upper cloud regions and begins
to freeze, the frozen portion becomes negatively charged and the unfrozen
droplets become positively charged. Eventually the
negative charge of the base of the cloud gives the earth a positive charge.
When the electrical potential reaches approximately ten thousand volts per
centimeter, ionization occurs along a narrow path and the result is a flash of
lightning.