How does lightning from a cloud?

Answer 1

The cloud has an upper part that has a positive charge and a lower part that has a negative charge. The electrons in the ground move away from the cloud because like charges repel. This causes the electrons from the cloud to jump to the ground quickly in an effort to make the ground neutral, this is what creates lightning, kind of like a spark. Hope this helps :D
In cloud to ground lightning, it may seem that lightning strikes in a downward direction because of how quickly it happens, however, this is actually inaccurate.

By law, negative charges reside at the bottom of a storm cloud.

Positive charges reside at the top of a storm cloud.

If there is enough electrical energy within the storm cloud, a single negatively charged particle (electron) will emerge from the cloud and begin heading towards the ground. This is called a "stepped leader".

On the ground, positive charges begin building up below the stepped leader and since opposite charges attract each other, these positive charges begin heading up to meet the negative stepped leader.

When they connect to each other, a channel is established and more electrons begin flowing downward.

Next a "return stroke" of positive charges flow up this channel and create the bright flash we see as lightning.

Answer 2

well to be honest i have no idea why it goes down to the ground. That is swhy i came to wikianswers. But i think that electrity and lightning are the smae thing and electricity is attracted to metal and there is alot of metal on our earth so instead of lightning going up into our orbit it strikes down to find metal and hit the metal.

thats my answer to my own question

BY CLAUDIA

Answer 3

During thunderstorms, great amounts of electrostatic resistance builds up in objects and clouds. Many objects such as trees are close to the clouds, granting a larger chance to be struck by lightning. Objects will send up 'feelers' if you will into the air. These electric tentacles wait to be struck by lightning, and they provide a channel to the ground.

Answer 4

Lightning happens like a giant shock you might get after rubbing your feet on the ground and then touching a doorknob. Clouds build up so much static electricity and after a while, it has to get rid of it. The cloud then releases the spark, which will jump to the ground, tree, building, etc.

Answer 5

The vast majority of lightning flashes between cloud and ground begin in the cloud with a process known as the preliminary breakdown. After perhaps a tenth of a second, a highly branched discharge, the stepped leader, appears below the cloud base and propagates downward in a succession of intermittent steps. The leader channel is usually negatively charged, and when the tip of a branch of the leader gets to within about 30 m (100 ft) of the ground, the electric field becomes large enough to initiate one or more upward connecting discharges, usually from the tallest objects in the local vicinity of the leader. When contact occurs between an upward discharge and the stepped leader, the first return stroke begins. The return stroke is basically a very intense, positive wave of ionization that propagates up the partially ionized leader channel into the cloud at a speed close to the speed of light. After a pause of 40-80 milliseconds, another leader, the dart leader, forms in the cloud and propagates down the previous return-stroke channel without stepping. When the dart leader makes contact with the ground, a subsequent return stroke propagates back to the cloud. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lasts 0.2-0.3 s and contains about four return strokes; lightning often appears to flicker because the human eye is capable of just resolving the interval between these strokes.

Lightning between cloud and ground is usually classified according to the direction of propagation and polarity of the initial leader. For example, in the most frequent type of cloud-to-ground lightning a negative discharge is initiated by a downward propagating leader as described above. In this case, the total discharge will effectively lower negative charge to ground or, equivalently, will deposit positive charge in the cloud.

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Answer 6

Lightning is caused by the buildup of electrical charges within a cloud. As ice particles in the cloud collide and create friction, negative charges collect at the bottom of the cloud and positive charges gather at the top. When the difference in charges becomes strong enough, a lightning bolt is formed as the electric current flows between the positive and negative charges.

Answer 7

Ligthing does NOT form a cloud. A cloud is formed by evorapted water moucles,

Answer 8

It doesn't go one way. It goes from the clouds and the ground and meets in the middle. However, it goes so fast, it looks as though it is coming from the clouds and hits the ground.