What Causes Lightning?

Before I can tell you how lightning forms, you need to know the basic structure of a cloud. Go outside and look up at the sky on a calm day. You will probably see clouds. Have you ever wondered what's inside those clouds? Clouds are made up of tinny particles of water called called condensation that accumulate (come together) to form a cloud.

The atmosphere has positive and negative charges. When the weather outside is calm and nice, the positive and negative particle are evenly dispersed. When the weather starts to get bad, the negative and positive charges start to move. The positive charges form at the top, while the negative charges form at the bottom.

When the electricity leaves one type of charge and hits the other, lightning is created. It can start with a positive charge particle in the air and a negative charge particle lower in the air collide, or it can start with a positive charge particle in the ground and a negative charge particle in the air hit.