Saturday 10 December 2016

If air cannot conduct electricity, how can lightning happen?


If air cannot conduct electricity, how can lightning happen?



Answer



This is due to the principle of dielectric breakdown. During thunderstorms, the air between the cloud and the ground acts like a capacitor. When the electric field is high enough, the air partially ionizes, at which point there are free electrons to carry current and the air becomes, essentially, conductive.


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