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The development of lightning may be described as..
  • A
    the consequence of high sunspot activity in the ionosphere causing high electric potentials.
  • B
    a decrease of potential energy between the Earth`s surface and the base of clouds.
  • C
    a result of increasing static electricity in areas where warm and cold air contact along a front.
  • D
    a discharge of electricity due to the high electric potential between clouds and the Earth`s surface.

Refer to figure.

HOW LIGHTNING FORMS

As a towering cumulus develops, a large electrical charge separation builds up within the cloud. Lightning results when this electrical charge becomes strong enough to jump from the cloud to the ground, to another cloud, or to an opposite electrical charge within the same cloud.

In the early stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground. When the opposite charges build up enough, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we know as lightning.

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