... like I'm 5 years old
When you look up during a storm, you might see bright flashes in the sky and hear loud sounds that follow. This is what we call thunder and lightning. They are caused by a natural process that occurs in storm clouds. Imagine a giant, invisible tussle happening inside these clouds. This clash is between small bits of ice, snow, or rain that bounce around in the cloud and create static electricity. When this electricity builds up, it wants to release and does so in the form of a bright flash, which we call lightning.
After the release of this electric energy, a shock wave is created that moves through the air and causes it to vibrate. These vibrations reach our ears as the sound we know as thunder. It's like watching fireworks at a festival. First, you see the bright flash (lightning), and then comes the loud sound (thunder).
Think of it like a giant sparkler in the sky. The sparkler lights up first (lightning), and then you hear the crackling sounds (thunder).
... like I'm in College
To delve a little deeper into the phenomena of thunder and lightning, we need to understand the concept of static electricity. When particles collide inside a storm cloud, they exchange charges. The lighter particles gain a positive charge and move towards the top of the cloud, while the heavier particles acquire a negative charge and descend towards the bottom.
This charge separation creates an intense electric field within the cloud and between the cloud and the ground. When the electric field becomes too strong, a conductive discharge path is created, allowing the negative charge to be released in a bright flash known as lightning.
The rapid heating and cooling of the air around this lightning bolt cause it to expand and contract quickly, creating a sound wave that we hear as thunder. It's the same principle as a sonic boom created by a supersonic aircraft.
Let's think of the cloud as a giant LEGO structure, with different colored blocks representing different elements within the cloud. The blue blocks represent the lighter, positively charged ice crystals, while the red blocks represent the heavier, negatively charged graupel.
As the cloud (our LEGO structure) grows, the blocks get shuffled around. The red blocks end up at the bottom, and the blue blocks rise to the top, creating a separation of charges.
Now, imagine a yellow LEGO lightning bolt. When the 'charge' between the top and bottom becomes too much, the yellow bolt zips from the bottom of the cloud to the ground, connecting the red and blue blocks. This is our lightning.
Next, think of the sound of the LEGO blocks clicking together. This represents the air heating and cooling around the lightning bolt, creating the sound of thunder.
So, in our LEGO storm, the blocks moving around create the electricity (lightning), and the sound of them clicking together is the thunder.
... like I'm an expert
For those well-versed in meteorology, the process of charge separation in cumulonimbus clouds is an interesting phenomenon. The precise mechanism is still the subject of ongoing research, but the prevailing theory is the 'non-inductive charging hypothesis'.
This suggests that collisions between graupel (soft hail) and ice crystals in the presence of supercooled water lead to the separation of charges. The graupel becomes negatively charged, while the ice crystals become positively charged. The updrafts and downdrafts within the cloud then separate these charged particles, creating an electric field.
The lightning discharge process involves the initiation of a stepped leader, the attraction of an upward positive streamer, and finally, the return stroke, which is the most luminous and carries the most current. The rapid expansion and contraction of the air around this high-current channel is what generates the thunder we hear.