From where does clouds in thunderstorms get electric charge?

Answer 1

Within a thundercloud, many small bits of ice bump into each other as they swirl around in the air. All those collisions create an electrical charge, just like the one that built up in you when you crossed the carpet.

After a while, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges (usually with a negative charge closest to the earth). Since opposites attract each other, that causes a positive charge to build up on the ground beneath the cloud. The ground's electrical charge concentrates around anything that sticks up, such as mountains, lone trees, people, or even blades of grass. The charge streaming up from these points eventually connects with a charge reaching down from the clouds, and lightning strikes.

The intense heat of the lightning bolt causes the surrounding air to explode outward with a gigantic boom--thunder.

Answer 2

You may be knowing that one form of energy can be converted into another form of energy.In the thunder clouds the warm air with enough moisture rises and condensation takesplace at a particular height resulting in the formation of water droplets and ice particles.The latent heat released in this process creates a potential difference between clouds or between a cloud and the earth, resulting in lightning and thunder.Thus lightning is the result of the transformation of heat energy into electrical energy.The initial rising of the air leading to the formation of the cloud is also sometimes due to the heating of the earth's surface by solar radiation.