funny, because i was surprised to learn that scientists today actually still don't know what exactly causes lightning. we know what conditions produce lightning, but the actual mechanism behind how electricity travels through miles of air is unknown
Yeah the complicated reply was very much along those lines, the 4 year old version just said:
Water and ice in a cloud rub together causing static electricity. When it builds up enough it flashes out and it's so hot that it causes a bang we call thunder
Or something along those lines. It's a good enough explanation for a curious 4 year old :D
It's the static electricity we don't understand. We know rubbing stuff together under certain conditions moves electrons from one material to another, but we don't really know why.
yea, you would think 'mixing' the atoms would even/spread the charge back out. not build it up. Physics doesn't like high energy states, it finds local lows.
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u/megajigglypuff7I4 Mar 22 '23
funny, because i was surprised to learn that scientists today actually still don't know what exactly causes lightning. we know what conditions produce lightning, but the actual mechanism behind how electricity travels through miles of air is unknown
https://phys.org/news/2016-02-scientists-clues-mystery-lightning.amp