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What Makes Lightning?
Lightning is one of nature's most spectacular shows! But what causes it?
Inside a thunderstorm cloud, tiny ice crystals and water droplets are being tossed around by strong winds. All that bumping and crashing creates static electricity — the same kind of spark you get when you shuffle your feet on carpet and touch a doorknob!
But lightning is WAY bigger than a carpet spark. A single bolt of lightning can be 5 miles long, reach 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5 times hotter than the surface of the sun!), and carry 300 million volts of electricity.
Lightning can strike from cloud to cloud, or from cloud to the ground. About 100 lightning bolts strike the Earth every SECOND. That is about 8 million strikes per day worldwide!