how do you explain how rain and lightning occur, to kids?
151274
This should help you.\nhttp://www.vims.edu/bridge\nhttp://www.education.noaa.gov/
382607
Lightning is an electric current. Within a thundercloud, many small bits of ice bump into each other as they swirl around in the air. All those collisions create an electrical charge, just like the one that builds up in you when you cross a carpet.\n\nAfter a while, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges (usually with a negative charge closest to the earth). Since opposites attract each other, that causes a positive charge to build up on the ground beneath the cloud. The ground's electrical charge concentrates around anything that sticks up, such as mountains, lone trees, people, or even blades of grass. The charge streaming up from these points eventually connects with a charge reaching down from the clouds, and--zap!--lightning strikes.\n\nThe intense heat of the lightning bolt causes the surrounding air to explode outward with a gigantic boom--thunder.
422005
A localized storm- often happens with very strong thunderstorms.  Its raining and lightening here, but 5 miles away it is not, for example.  It may be even more localized than that - 1/2 mile away it isnt raining.
918163
learn the science behind every aspect of thunderstorms, like atmospheric dust holding water molecules, attracts more, forms drops of water, thunder caused by lightning shooting through the atmosphere at faster than sound speeds (hence, the delay), electrical charge of earth and sky, etc...
654217
How droplets form:\n\nRain droplets are formed from water vapor in the atmosphere that condenses onto dust particles.  Water vapor is lighter than air, but water is not.  The condensation onto the impurities in dust (nucleation) is more kinetically favorable than a sudden, rapid condensation of all the water in the air (making a splash).  This nucleation phenomena is very similar to observations you can make when you boil water (or let carbonated beverages bubble).  The bubbles will form (nucleate and grow) at tiny cracks and imperfections.  (A very smooth container will have fewer bubbles). Eventually the bubbles get big enough (buoyancy overcomes surface tension) and they rise to the surface.  The main differences between this and rain is that these gas "droplets" fall upward because of buoyancy and they have to overcome an adhesive force to start falling, whereas rain just has to fall fast enough to escape air currents.\n\nThere is another less kinetically favorable mechanism for boiling water that you can sometimes repeat in a microwave, but it is very dangerous.  If you heat water in a microwave, it is possible to get it higher than the boiling point because there hasn't been sufficient time for steam bubbles to form and grow and rise to the surface.  As soon as you touch the surface of the superheated water with say a spoon you could be providing a nucleation site and the water will suddenly boil very dangerously.  If you do this experiment, be very careful.\n\nIf rain WERE observed to fall as a sudden splash rather than as droplets, an analagous condition would be that all of the carbonation in your soda will come out in a sudden blast of carbon dioxide, making a mess and giving you flat pop instantly.  Both processes involve nucleation and growth of droplets (bubbles).\n\nHow droplets fall to the earth:\n\nAll objects heavier than the air will fall to the earth, accelerating until they reach their terminal velocity (the fastest they can go relative to the air speed because of drag).  Really small objects, like rain droplets or insects have very small terminal velocities, so they can get buffeted around without falling much.  Once a rain droplet gets big enough, it can finally fall to the ground at a reasonable speed.  It has a limit on how large it can get because the bigger it gets the faster it falls.  Some basics behind the math follow.\n\nThe terminal velocity is reached when the aerodynamic drag force exactly balances the gravitational force.  The aerodynamic drag force increases with surface area and with velocity (lets consider it to be proportional to the velocity in this example...this is true for sufficiently small objects).  The gravitational force increases with mass (or at constant density) volume.  Volume is roughly proportional to the cube of the relavant length scale of the object.  Surface area is roughly proportional to the square of the length scale of the object.\n\nThus the ratio of the drag force to the gravitional force is c*v*L^2/L^3 = c*v/L, v is the falling velocity, L is typical length scale of the object (like a meter for a person, a foot for a bowling ball, a cm for a big bug), and c is a parameter that lumps together the effects of shape, viscosity, density, and so on.\n\nSo when this ratio c*v/L = 1, the velocity must be the terminal velocity, the fastest the object can fall, v_t.  If you rearrange the equation you see that c*v_t = L.  This means that for a given object with the same physical properties and shape but differing size, the bigger object will fall faster.
901588
try this\n\nhttp://www.metoffice.com/education/secondary/students/observing_rainfall.html
217536
Lightning originates around 15,000 to 25,000 feet above sea level when raindrops are carried upward until some of them convert to ice. For reasons that are not widely agreed upon, a cloud-to-ground lightning flash originates in this mixed water and ice region. The charge then moves downward in 50-yard sections called step leaders. It keeps moving toward the ground in these steps and produces a channel along which charge is deposited. Eventually, it encounters something on the ground that is a good connection. The circuit is complete at that time, and the charge is lowered from cloud to ground. \nThe return stroke is a flow of charge (current) which produces a luminosity much brighter than the part that came down. This entire event usually takes less than half a second.
301729
Both are correct.\n\nDuring a lightning strike, leaders travel up from the ground or object that is about to be struck. At the same time a strike comes from the clouds downward.\n\nWherever the leader is the tallest, the two will meet.\n\nThere are several types of lightning...\nCloud to ground\nGround to cloud\ncloud to cloud\n\nall are correct
28574
Lightning can happen when it snows.  The reason lighting happens is because the air in the clouds is negatively charged compared to the ground (making the clouds (-) and the gorund (+)).  The clouds usally get this way in dry conditions cause there is less moisture in the air to stop air molecules from rubbing up against one another and creating excess energy (a negative charge).  Well since the clouds are (-) it needs a way of getting rid of some energy so it can be neutral (n).  It does this by passing some energy in to the (+)  ground, which also want to be (n).  This passing of energy rips throught the (n) air in between the (-) clouds and the(+) ground and creats the effect of lightning.  Now the reason it usually doesn't happen when it snow is because of the moisture in the air being so high, but everyonce in a while the air become dry enough when it snow to produce lightning.
439061
Lightning is electricity. When the clouds build up too much electrons and the voltage between the cloud and the ground is great enough to cause air to break down and conduct, you get lighting. Its like a spark.
1088869
Lightning happens because of static electricity.  If you've ever gotten a little spark when you touched a doorknob or something metal, that's static electricity.  It happens because electrons (which make electricity) are "gathered up" in some materials when they are rubbed.  When your feet rub on a carpet, electrons from the carpet get picked up by your feet.  Then when you touch a doorknob or something metal, the electrons jump across to the doorknob, making a tiny spark.\n\nLightning is exactly the same thing, but much bigger.  The water in the clouds "rub" against the air, gathering electrons, until finally a huge spark leaps from the clouds to the ground.\n\nThunder happens right after lightning.  It happens because the lightning is so hot that it heats the air around it, making it expand.  Once the lightning is gone, the air rushes back in with a huge "bang" like giant clapping hands.\n\nThunder can be scary because it's so loud and unexpected.  But since thunder always follows lightning, here's what you can do:  When you see a flash of lightning, start counting, "one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi..." and so on until you hear the thunder.  Each "Mississippi" is about one second, and because of the speed of sound each second you count means that the lightning is about one-fifth of a mile away.  So if you can count to "five-Mississippi" before you hear the thunder, that means that the lightning is a mile away.  Knowing that it's that far away makes it not so bad.\n\nI think lightning is pretty neat to watch.  I used to live in the New Mexico desert, and when we had a thunderstorm you could see the lightning branching down from the clouds.  That's a little more interesting than just a bright flash of light.\n\nI hope that knowing more about lightning and thunder will help make it less scary for you.  Try looking up "lightning" on Google, look at some pictures and see how interesting lightning really is.
757146
Lightning is one of the oldest observed natural phenomena on earth. At the same time, it also is one of the least understood. While lightning is simply a gigantic spark of static electricity (the same kind of electricity that sometimes shocks you when you touch a doorknob), scientists do not have a complete grasp on how it works, or how it interacts with solar flares impacting the upper atmosphere or the earth's electromagnetic field.\nLightning has been seen in volcanic eruptions, extremely intense forest fires, surface nuclear detonations, heavy snowstorms, and in large hurricanes. However, it is most often seen in thunderstorms.At any given moment, there can be as many as 2,000 thunderstorms occurring across the globe. This translates to more than 14.5 MILLION storms each year. NASA satellite research indicated these storms produce lightning flashes about 40 times a second worldwide.This is a change from the commonly accepted value of 100 flashes per second which was an estimate from 1925. Whether it is 40, 100, or somewhere in between, we live on an electrified planet.\n\nThe Sound of Thunder\nRegardless of whether lightning is positive or negative, thunder is produced the same way. Thunder is the acoustic shock wave resulting from the extreme heat generated by a lightning flash. Lightning can be as hot as 54,000°F (30,000°C), a temperature that is five times the surface of the sun! When lightning occurs, it heats the air surrounding its channel to that same incredible temperature in a fraction of a second.\n\nLike all gases, when air molecules are heated, they expand. The faster they are heated, the faster their rate of expansion. But when air is heated to 54,000°F in a fraction of a second, a phenomenon known as "explosive expansion" occurs. This is where air expands so rapidly that it compresses the air in front of it, forming a shock wave similar to a sonic boom. Exploding fireworks produce a similar result.\n\nWhat is the difference between a thundershower and a thunderstorm?  \nTechnically, there is none. In general, the term "thundershower" tends to denote a fairly weak storm with light to moderate rainfall and low levels of lightning activity. However, there are no defined parameters that distinguish between a thundershower and a thunderstorm. In fact, in order to avoid confusion, we in the National Weather Service do not use the term "thundershower". If a shower is strong enough to produce lightning, even just one single bolt, it's called a thunderstorm.\n\nTo Learn More about Lightning and Thunder go to \nhttp://www.srh.weather.gov/jetstream/lightning/lightning_intro.htm\n\nLIGHTNING SAFETY A MUST READ\nLightning is the MOST UNDERRATED weather hazard. On average, only floods kill more people. Lightning makes every single thunderstorm a potential killer, whether the storm produces one single bolt or ten thousand bolts.\n\nIn the United States, lightning routinely kills more people each year than tornadoes and hurricanes COMBINED. Tornadoes, hail, and wind gusts get the most attention, but only lightning can strike outside the storm itself. Lightning is the first thunderstorm hazard to arrive and the last to leave.\n\nLightning is one of the most capricious and unpredictable characteristics of a thunderstorm. Because of this, no one can guarantee an individual or group absolute protection from lightning. However, knowing and following proven lightning safety guidelines can greatly reduce the risk of injury or death. Remember, YOU are ultimately responsible for your personal safety, and should take appropriate action when threatened by lightning.\n\nWhile no place is 100% safe from lightning, some places are much safer than others.\nWhere to Go Where NOT to Go \nThe safest location during a thunderstorm is inside a large enclosed structure with plumbing and electrical wiring. These include shopping centers, schools, office buildings, and private residences.\n\nIf lightning st
582523
I love thunderstorms. I just like witnessing the awesome power of nature come rolling over the treetops. It usually also starts to cool down when one is approaching.
665153
The exact reason is not proven, but suspected that it is because precipitation falls to the ground carrying electrons, and the lightning occurs when the difference in charges between the clouds and the ground even out, and the electrons jump back to the clouds.  That is why lightning is said to go from ground to the clouds.
1132815
This is taken from an article I used with my earth science students.\n\nOver 1,000 people get struck by lightning every year in the United States, and over 100 of them die as a result of the strike. Lightning is not something to toy with. \nIf you are caught outside in a storm, always look for appropriate shelter. Do not take any chances -- lightning can use you as a path to the earth just as easily as it can use any other object. Appropriate shelter would be a building or a car. If you do not have anywhere to go, then you should avoid taking shelter under trees. Trees attract lightning. Put your feet as close together as possible and crouch down with your head as low as possible without touching the ground. \n\nNever lay down on the ground. After lightning strikes the ground, there is an electric potential that radiates outward from the point of contact. If your body is in this area, current can flow through you. You never want the current to have the ability to pass through your body. This could cause cardiac arrest, not to mention other organ damage and burns. By making your body as low to the ground as possible and minimizing the amount of your body in contact with the ground, you can lower the possibility of a lightning-related injury. If a strike were to occur near you, the current would have a much more difficult time flowing through your body in this position. \n\nIf you are indoors, stay off the phone. If you must call someone, use a cordless phone or cell phone. If lightning strikes the phone line, the strike will travel to every phone on the line (and potentially to you if you are holding the phone). \n\nStay away from plumbing pipes (bath tub, shower). Lightning has the ability to strike a house or near a house and impart an electrical charge to the metal pipes used for plumbing. This threat is not as great as it used to be, because PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is often used for indoor plumbing these days. If you are not sure what your pipes are made of, wait it out.\n\nA couple of misconceptions:\nRubber tires keep you safe in a car because they do not conduct electricity.\nNope. In strong electric fields, rubber tires actually become more conductive than insulating. The reason you are safe in a car is because the lightning will travel around the surface of the vehicle and then go to ground. This occurs because the vehicle acts like a Faraday cage. Michael Faraday, a British physicist, discovered that a metal cage would shield objects within the cage when a high potential discharge hit the cage. The metal, being a good conductor, would direct the current around the objects and discharge it safely to the ground. This process of shielding is widely used today to protect the electrostatic sensitive integrated circuits in the electronics world. \n\nThe tallest objects in a storm always get struck by lightning.\nIt's true that taller objects are closer to the clouds, but as discussed previously, lightning can strike the ground at a close distance to a tall object. Taller objects may have a higher possibility of a strike, but where lightning is concerned, the strike path is not predictable.
848883
You might find this interesting,about how lightning works \nand the myths about how/what it strikes\n\nhttp://www.wvlightning.com/lmwn3.shtml
857205
Lightning does occur during snowstorms, it is just much rarer.\n(I have personally witnessed it.)\nI believe it does not occur as much, as the theory of lightning is that it builds up electricity from friction at the molecular level. However, in the extreme cold of a snowstorm, it would take a much greater amount of friction to generate enough electricity for lightning to form.