Homework Help: Science: Earth: Thunder and Lightning

Before lightning can occur, a charge separation large enough to cause electrical breakdown of air must develop. Thunderstorms are generally negatively charged at the base and positively charged in higher regions. One theory holds that the principle mechanism for separating electric charge is the vertical separation of larger charged droplets of water or ice (raindrops, hailstones, and so on) from differentially charged smaller droplets, as a result of their different settling velocities within a cloud. Another theory holds that small cloud particles and droplets are the principal charge carriers, and that the main mechanism for the separation of charge is the variable convective air motions within a cloud, which carry some particles upward and others downward.

Thunder is the result of the impact between the ground and Earth. That's why they never occur at the same time.

Homework Help: Science: Earth

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