Lightning Explained: Nature’s Ultimate Electric Spark

Lightning is a giant spark caused by the buildup and sudden release of electric charge in clouds.
Storm clouds separate charges, with negatives collecting at the bottom and positives at the top.
The ground often carries positive charges that attract the cloud’s negative charges.
When the difference is big enough, electricity leaps through the air as lightning.
A lightning bolt can heat the air to over 30,000°C—five times hotter than the Sun’s surface.
The rapid heating makes air expand explosively, creating thunder.
Most lightning stays inside clouds, but cloud-to-ground strikes are the most dramatic.
A single bolt can carry hundreds of millions of volts of electricity.
Lightning helps fertilize soil by turning nitrogen in the air into usable compounds.
Despite its beauty, lightning is dangerous—safety means sheltering indoors during storms.