Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically
charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily equalize
themselves, causing the instantaneous release of as much as one gigajoule of energy. This
discharge may produce a wide range of electromagnetic radiation, from very hot plasma
created by the rapid movement of electrons, to brilliant flashes of visible light in the form of
black-body radiation. Lightning causes thunder, a sound from the shock wave which
develops as gases in the vicinity of the discharge experience a sudden increase in pressure.
Lightning occurs commonly during thunderstorms as well as other types of energetic
weather systems, but volcanic lightning can also occur during volcanic eruptions.The three
main kinds of lightning are distinguished by where they occur: either inside a single
thundercloud, between two different clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. Many
other observational variants are recognized, including "heat lightning", which can be seen
from a great distance but not heard; dry lightning, which can cause forest fires; and ball
lightning, which is rarely observed scientifically.Humans have deified lightning for millennia.
Idiomatic expressions derived from lightning, such as the English expression "bolt from the
blue", are common across languages.Electrification The details of the charging process are
still being studied by scientists, but there is general agreement on some of the basic
concepts of thunderstorm electrification. The main charging area in a thunderstorm occurs
in the central part of the storm where air is moving upward rapidly and temperatures range
from ; see Figure 1. In that area, the combination of temperature and rapid upward air
movement produces a mixture of super-cooled cloud droplets, small ice crystals, and
graupel . The updraft carries the super-cooled cloud droplets and very small ice crystals
upward. At the same time, the graupel, which is considerably larger and denser, tends to fall
or be suspended in the rising air.The differences in the movement of the precipitation cause
collisions to occur. When the rising ice crystals collide with graupel, the ice crystals become
positively charged and the graupel becomes negatively charged; see Figure 2. The updraft
carries the positively charged ice crystals upward toward the top of the storm cloud. The
larger and denser graupel is either suspended in the middle of the thunderstorm cloud or
falls toward the lower part of the storm.William Thomson demonstrated that charge
separation in water occurs in the usual electric fields at the earth's surface and developed a
continuous electric field measuring device using that knowledge.The physical separation of
charge into different regions using liquid water was demonstrated by William Thompson .
The most likely charge-carrying species were considered to be the aqueous hydrogen ion
and the aqueous hydroxide ion.The electrical charging of solid water ice has also been
considered. The charged species were again considered to be the hydrogen ion and the
hydroxide ion.An electron is not stable in water with respect to hydroxide ion plus hydrogen
for the time scales involved in thunder storms.The charge carrier in lightning is mainly
electrons in a plasma. The process of going from charge as ions associated with liquid or
solid water water to charge as electrons associated with lightning must involve some form
of electro-chemistry, that is, the oxidation and/or the reduction of chemical species.General
considerations The typical cloud-to-ground lightning flash culminates in the formation of an
electrically conducting plasma channel through the air in excess of tall, from within the
cloud to the ground's surface. The actual discharge is the final stage of a very complex
process. At its peak, a typical thunderstorm produces three or more strikes to the Earth p
