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  1. Lightning - Wikipedia

    The most direct effects of lightning on humans occur as a result of cloud-to-ground lightning, even though intra-cloud and cloud-to-cloud are more common. Intra-cloud and cloud-to-cloud lightning …

  2. Lightning | Voltage, Causes, & Facts | Britannica

    Jan 24, 2026 · About one-third of lightning flashes travel from the cloud to the ground; most of these originate in negatively charged regions of the cloud. Lightning occurs when regions of excess …

  3. How Lightning is Created - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

    Apr 5, 2023 · 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 …

  4. What Causes Thunder and Lightning? - Science Notes and Projects

    May 16, 2023 · The short answer is that an unequal distribution of electrical charges cause a static discharge, which we call lightning, while thunder is the sound that results from the rapid expansion …

  5. New research unravels the mysteries of lightning’s origins

    Mar 6, 2025 · In general, lightning starts after opposing electrical charges — positive and negative — are separated in clouds, resulting in a discharge that people see as lightning.

  6. Lightning facts and information | National Geographic

    Jul 21, 2025 · Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. Most occur within the clouds.

  7. Understanding Lightning: How It Happens and Why It Matters

    Feb 4, 2025 · Lightning is essentially a giant spark of electricity. It occurs during thunderstorms when different charges build up in the atmosphere. Here's how it works:

  8. Lightning - National Geographic Society

    Oct 19, 2023 · Lightning is an electric charge or current. It can come from the clouds to the ground, from cloud to cloud, or from the ground to a cloud.

  9. Severe Weather 101: Lightning Basics

    Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground. In the early stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in …

  10. Lightning History - National Weather Service

    Recently some scientists have concluded that lightning may have played a part in the evolution of living organisms. Nobel prize winning chemist Harold Urey proposed that the earth's early atmosphere …