What makes Lightning?? See Details?

Question

OK last night I was driving around and I live in Alberta, Canada by the way, anyways it was about +5 C outside and I seen lightning. I thought you could only get lightning when it is warm out it was pretty cold. so I was just wondering how it can still happen.

Answer 1

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 2

1

Answer 3

From Toronto's perspective, Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati will likely never make the NHL. Berry's career potential is likely a serviceable AHLer while Giliati's is likely a depth AHLer at best. In essence, the Leafs gave up nothing of remote value. Return-wise, Lashoff is a former first round pick who needs some serious work on his game. While he is one of the smoothest skaters you will ever see and a decent PPQB, he is very poor on the defense side of the game and is soft as butter. At this point he will most likely top out at a #7 defenseman. However we have seen late bloomers before. Burke and his team pulled a steal a few years ago in acquiring a then (a pretty much) career AHLer in Francois Beauchemin and he managed to flourish in a new environment. So Lashoff could turn into something although he could also continue his current development curve and play very few NHL games in the future. Toronto also gains an extra contract space (An NHL team can only have 50 players under contract with some exceptions) that can be used sometime in the future. From Tampa's perspective, they gain some AHL forward depth, something they were apparently looking for. As for your Kaberle question, I believe its way too early to draw any conclusions. Burke will not ask Kaberle to waive his NTC so unless he asks for a trade, its unlikely Kaberle will be on the move this season. His father's comments need to be taken with a grain of salt as his agent has been quoted saying the near opposite. I suggest people wait until TOMAS KABERLE comes out and states his feelings rather then relying on contradictory third party sources supposedly speaking on his behalf.

Answer 4

Thunderstorm develop from cumulonimbus clouds and are characterised by lightning discharge.Thunder and lightning occur when large accumulations liquid and solid water are carried to heights where the temeprature is well below --20(minus twenty) degree celcius.If the the base of the cumulonimbus cloud is lower than the 0(zero) degree isotherm, it is considered to be a favourable condition for the formation of the thunderstorm.High surface temperature is a common but not an essential condition.In shot ,the important conditions for the thunderstorm to form are as follows.
(1) The presence of moist air through a considerable depth of the atmosphere.
(2) An unstable atmosphere for saturated air extending to great heights and
(3)A strong lifting mechanism to force air aloft to considerable heights.
As thunderstorm(hence lightning) develop from cumulonimbus cloud,wherever cumulonimbus cloud forms,there is always the possibility of lightning.

Answer 5

Ok leave it to me to give the correct Answer with resources.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/lightning/lightning_intro.htm
The conditions needed to produce lightning have been known for some time. However, exactly how lightning forms has never been verified so there is room for debate. Leading theories focus around separation of electric charge and generation of an electric field within a thunderstorm. Recent studies also indicate that ice, hail, and semi-frozen water drops known as graupel are essential to lightning development. Storms that fail to produce large quantities of ice usually fail to produce lightning.

Forecasting when and where lightning will strike is not yet possible and most likely never will be. But by educating yourself about lightning and learning some basic safety rules, you, your family, and your friends can avoid needless exposure to the dangers of one of the most capricious and unpredictable forces of nature.

Charge Separation
Thunderstorms have very turbulent environments. Strong updrafts and downdrafts occur with regularity and within close proximity to each other. The updrafts transport small liquid water droplets from the lower regions of the storm to heights between 35,000 and 70,000 feet, miles above the freezing level.

Meanwhile, downdrafts transport hail and ice from the frozen upper regions of the storm. When these collide, the water droplets freeze and release heat. This heat in turn keeps the surface of the hail and ice slightly warmer than its surrounding environment, and a "soft hail", or "graupel" forms.

When this graupel collides with additional water droplets and ice particles, a critical phenomenon occurs: Electrons are sheared off of the ascending particles and collect on the descending particles. Because electrons carry a negative charge, the result is a storm cloud with a negatively charged base and a positively charged top.



Field Generation
In the world of electricity, opposites attract and insulators inhibit. As positive and negative charges begin to separate within the cloud, an electric field is generated between its top and base. Further seperation of these charges into pools of positive and negative regions results in a strengthening of the electic field.

However, the atmosphere is a very good insulator that inhibits electric flow, so a TREMENDOUS amount of charge has to build up before lightning can occur. When that charge threshold is reached, the strength of the electric field overpowers the atmosphere's insulating properties, and lightning results.

The electric field within the storm is not the only one that develops. Below the negatively charged storm base, positive charge begins to pool within the surface of the earth (see image left). This positive charge will shadow the storm wherever it goes, and is responsible for cloud-to-ground lightning. However, the electric field within the storm is much stronger than the one between the storm base and the earth's surface, so most lightning (~75-80%) occurs within the storm cloud itself.




How Lightning Develops Between The Cloud And The Ground
A moving thunderstorm gathers another pool of positively charged particles along the ground that travel with the storm (image 1). As the differences in charges continue to increase, positively charged particles rise up taller objects such as trees, houses, and telephone poles.



A channel of negative charge, called a "stepped leader" will descend from the bottom of the storm toward the ground (image 2). It is invisible to the human eye, and shoots to the ground in a series of rapid steps, each occurring in less time than it takes to blink your eye. As the negative leader approaches the ground, positive charge collects in the ground and in objects on the ground.

This positive charge "reaches" out to the approaching negative charge with its own channel, called a "streamer" (image 3). When these channels connect, the resulting electrical transfer is what we see as lightning. After the initial lightning stroke, if enough charge is leftover, additional lightning strokes will use the same channel and will give the bolt its flickering appearance.

Take it to the MAX! The Lightning Process: Keeping in Step

Tall objects such as trees and skyscrapers are commonly struck by lightning. Mountains also make good targets. The reason for this is their tops are closer to the base of the storm cloud. Remember, the atmosphere is a good electrical insulator. The less insulation the lightning has to burn through, the easier it is for it to strike. However, this does not always mean tall objects will be struck. It all depends on where the charges accumulate. Lighting can strike the ground in an open field the even if the tree line is close by.

Answer 6

Lightening is actually formed by ice.

Water evaporates and rises to the sky where clouds are formed. It is very cold up there and the water freezes. As the ice molecules cling to each other they get heavy and begin to sink. As they fall they rub against rising evaporated water causing friction. When the charged electrons build up a spark of lightening is discharged to release the pressure of built up charged electrons

Answer 7

because when the cold air and the warm air meets, lightning is produced

Answer 8

powerful clouds