How lightning is Made

Lightning is made when the right conditions of warm and cold air are mixed. The electricity that makes lightning is made within the storm cloud and is built up little by little until there is enough energy to discharge. Water droplets in warmer air rubs with ice crystals in the cold air while the hot air is rising, this process produces the static electricity needed to build up and strike. The process is a just like a large version of rubbing your socks on a carpet and shocking someone with the built up static electricity.

This picture is a great example of lightning striking from cloud to cloud and to the ground.

For the power to be stored until discharge, the cloud must act like a battery. There are positive and negative charged areas in the cloud. Usually, the positive charge is on the top of the cloud and the negative charged area is on the bottom. Once the cloud gets a big enough charge it will discharge into the ground or another cloud. Electricity automatically takes the path of least resistance so that is why it will usually strike the tallest or closest thing.