Why does it thunder and lightning? What is the reason?

Lightning, generally referring to the atmospheric discharge in the troposphere, is an electrostatic discharge phenomenon. When air is used as the medium, the collision and friction of various particles in the air will make the positive and negative charges on both sides of the air medium accumulate continuously, and the voltage applied to the air medium will also increase at the same time.

When the local voltage reaches the breakdown voltage of air at that time, the local air medium will be electrically broken down and continue to become plasma, so that the current can pass through the originally insulated air. At this time, the current passing through the air will also heat the air sharply, causing the air to expand and produce lightning.

Extended data:

The current of lightning is very large, the peak value can generally reach tens of thousands of amperes, but the duration is very short, generally only a few tens of microseconds. Because of its short duration, the energy transmitted by lightning is relatively small, but the power of lightning can be great.

In humid weather in summer, rich water molecules will reduce the breakdown voltage required by air medium, so it is more prone to lightning, even when it snows in winter. Generally speaking, when the breakdown voltage of dielectric decreases due to the change of dielectric properties, the chance of discharge is greater.

Baidu encyclopedia-lightning

Baidu Encyclopedia-Thunder