what exactly creates lightning?

Answer 1

Some good answers but I'm not sure if they answer what your question is asking for so I'll add the following...

Lightning is created by the movement of ice crystals in the storm cloud.

If you look at a storm cloud, the clouds extend thousands of feet into the air. The very cold air at the altitudes involved freeze the water vapor in the cloud into ice. The violent collisions of tiny ice crystals causes the separation of millions of electrons within the storm cloud...

Eventually what happens is the positive and negative charges polarize within the cloud and build till the electrical forces become strong enough to overpower the electrical resistance of the air (electrical resistance of air is very high).

Voila, lightning.

Answer 2

What causes lightning?
Lightning is an electric current. Within a thundercloud way up in the sky, many small bits of ice (frozen raindrops) bump into each other as they move around in the air. All of those collisions create an electric charge. After a while, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges. The positive charges or protons form at the top of the cloud and the negative charges or electrons form at the bottom of the cloud. Since opposites attract, that causes a positive charge to build up on the ground beneath the cloud. The grounds electrical charge concentrates around anything that sticks up, such as mountains, people, or single trees. The charge coming up from these points eventually connects with a charge reaching down from the clouds and - zap - lightning strikes!

Answer 3

Lightning is associated with thunder storms and is found throughout the cloud.
As a towering cumulus cloud develops, a large electrical charge separation builds up with in the cloud. Lightning results when this electrical charge becomes strong enough to jump from the cloud to ground,to another cloud,or to an opposite electrical charge within the same cloud.
Although the process that creates lightning is not fully understood,it is enhanced substantially when the cloud grows in height above the freezing level. As the outer boundaries of water droplets start to freeze, positive ions,or particles with a positive charge flow to the area of ice formation. This creates an outer shell which is positively charged and a center which is negatively charged.
When the interior freezes and expands, it shatters the outer shell.
The droplets can also be broken up by colliding with other particles. In either case the lighter pieces are then carried in the updrafts to the top of the cloud. The heavier negatively charged particles fall to the bottom of the cloud. This makes th top of th cloud to have a net positive charge while the lower part has a net negative charge. As the negative charge builds at the bottom of the cloud, it repels the negative charge on the earths surface. This leaves the area below the cloud with a positive charge. This positive charged area acts like a shadow that follows th cloud as it moves.
When the cloud has a very intense neg. charge at the base, it seeks to neutralize itself by discharging to a positive area.
This discharge is what we see as lightning. When it discharges it goes to the most accessible charge. This is usually within the cloud itself, or between the clouds. At times,however it goes from
the cloud to the ground.
Lightning begins when a neg charged pilot leader descends from the cloud. This leader forms a conductive path approx. eight inches in diameter and from 35 to 150 feet long.. At this point the electrons in the cloud begin to descend down the path. This recharges the path and causes additional leaders to extend earthward. These leaders are called stepped leaders (not ladders!) because they seek the most conductive path to the ground and may try several branches before the Best is located. As the path is extended the electrons from the cloud extend further downward. The final stepped leader takes place a few feet above the earth where it is met by a rising pos. flow from the surface. With the path completed, the positive ions ion the earth can now flow to the cloud and neutralize the the lower portion of the cloud. This upward flow is refereed to as the return stroke and because it energizes the air molecules and illuminates the path you see it as lightning.. Before the path dissipates, the first stroke is followed by additional strokes which further neutralize the neg. charges in the cloud. What appears to be a single lightning flash can actually be 3 or 4 strokes. The actual stroke of lightning takes less than 1/2 second to occur. and that includes the leaders and three or four return strokes.

The peak current in the channel can reach 10,000 amps and the air in the channel can be heated to a temp hotter than the surface of the sun. This causes the air in the path to expand violently, producing the sound waves we hear as thunder, hence the term...thunderstorms.

Answer 4

Acually, there are several therioes as to what causes the diffrent types of lighting. Basicly its the release of built up potentional electrical energy. For instance, there may be a build up of negative charges in the clouds and postive on earth (Trees, buildings, ect.) the two eventually join forces and there you have electricty. Its the same principal as you touching a metal sink in winter and getting shocked. Here is a more technical approach:

An initial discharge, or path of ionized air, called a "stepped leader", starts from a negatively charged region in the thundercloud and proceeds generally downward in a large number of quick jumps, each up to 50 metres long. Along the way, the stepped leader may branch into a number of paths as it continues to descend. The progression of stepped leaders takes a comparatively long time (hundreds of milliseconds) to approach the ground. This initial phase involves a relatively small electric current (tens or hundreds of amperes), and the leader is almost invisible compared to the subsequent lightning channel. When the downward leader is quite close to the ground, one or more smaller discharges (called positive streamers) arise from nearby, usually tall, grounded objects due to the intense electric field created by the approaching leaders.

As one of the rising streamers meets a stepped leader, the circuit is closed, and the main lightning stroke (often referred to as the return stroke) follows with much higher current. The main stroke travels at about 0.1 c (30 million meters/second or 100 million feet/second) and the peak current lasts for tens of microseconds or so. After the peak, the current typically decays over tens or hundreds of microseconds.

Answer 5

Electricity travels Negative to Positive, not sure how anything would be more negatively charged than the Earth which is Ground... Lightning strikes Up from the Earth, not down to it. We just don't see it that way. It's an optical illusion that it appears to strike down.

I had an electronics class or six, and a meteorology class as well. Lightning is electricity so it must travel from the Earth, (negative to positive) and not to it. It can and does strike sideways though.

Answer 6

Lightning is a discharge of the build-up of static electricity that results from friction between the water molecules in a cloud and air molecules.

Answer 7

Electrons flowing, usually from ground to the cloud.

Answer 8

When charged clouds hit each other.

Answer 9

Fat people fart inside the clouds when they are flying. the friction between their farts causes massive energy explosions.

Answer 10

electricity.