What Makes Thunder and Lightning?

What You'll Learn

• Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the sky
• Inside storm clouds, tiny ice crystals bump together and build up electric charge
• When the charge gets big enough, it jumps as a lightning bolt
• Thunder is the sound made by lightning heating the air super fast
• Lightning is hotter than the surface of the Sun!

Words to Know

Lightning

A giant spark of electricity in the sky

"Lightning flashed across the sky."

Thunder

The loud boom made by lightning

"Thunder shook the ground."

Electric charge

Energy that builds up and can spark

"Ice crystals build up electric charge."

Ice crystal

A tiny piece of ice in a cloud

"Ice crystals bump together in clouds."

Check What You Learned

Fun Facts

• Lightning is a discharge of static electricity built up in storm clouds

  Source: National Weather Service

• Ice crystals colliding in clouds separate charge — positive at top, negative at bottom

  Source: NOAA

• When charge difference is large enough, electricity jumps as a lightning bolt

  Source: NWS

• Lightning is approximately 50,000F (30,000C) — about 5x hotter than the Sun's surface (~10,000F)

  Source: NOAA

• Thunder is caused by rapid heating and expansion of air around the lightning channel

  Source: American Meteorological Society

• Light travels faster than sound, so we see lightning before hearing thunder

  Source: Physics