Nature Example
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Nature's Biggest Spark: Lightning!
Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Click here for the license
A lightning bolt is a giant spark of static electricity.
Nature's Example:
Inside a storm cloud, tiny ice and water particles rub together, building up a huge static charge (like rubbing a giant balloon!). The bottom of the cloud becomes negatively charged, and the ground below becomes positively charged. The air acts as an insulator, but the charge gets so big that it 'jumps' the gap... ZAP!
💡 Fun Facts
- A single lightning bolt can be 100 million volts! (A cell is only 1.5 volts).
- The air around a lightning bolt gets five times hotter than the surface of the sun.
- Thunder is the sound of the air exploding outwards because it gets heated so fast by the lightning.