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Lightning strikes during thunderstorms kill more Americans each year than either tornadoes... National Geographic explores the science behind lightning strikes.
- 3 min
- 3.3M
- National Geographic
A SciShow Kids viewer wants to know, “Why do lightning and thunder happen?”. Get your raincoat, because Jessi will take you inside a thunderstorm to give you the answer!
- 4 min
- 4.8M
- SciShow Kids
Sep 11, 2024 · Lightning comes from electrical charges that build up within a storm cloud. Thunderstorms form when warm, moist air rises high into the atmosphere. This rising air is called an updraft.
The result is a lightning bolt. At first, there is a bolt which is invisible to our eyes. At the same time, an excess of positively charged particles builds up on the ground, seen here in green.
Lightning can occur between opposite charges within the thunderstorm cloud (intra-cloud lightning) or between opposite charges in the cloud and on the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning). Lightning is one of the oldest observed natural phenomena on earth.
Feb 8, 2021 · The video captures a thread of electric current, or lightning leader, zipping down from a thundercloud to meet another leader reaching up from the ground. When the two touch, it triggers...
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What is lightning & how does it work?
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May 5, 2022 · If you've ever shocked yourself on a doorknob after walking across a carpet in your socks, you experienced the pop of a tiny lightning bolt. Static electrical charge builds up whenever two objects rub together, and in the case of lightning, the objects are moisture molecules and ice crystals in clouds.
