Question

How does electric discharge in lightning occurs if air is a bad conductor?

Answer 1

Electric discharge in Lightning:

1. In high altitudes due to low-temperature water droplets on the clouds get converted into ice crystals.
2. These crystals rub against each other to generate electricity.
3. When the cloud becomes heavy the amount of static electricity generated becomes very high.
4. The earth has many positive charge components and hence the ground acts as a large positive charge.
5. The negative charge moves to the lower end of a cloud.
6. Since air is a bad conductor it resists the flow of the charges from the clouds to the ground up until a certain limit.
7. Beyond this limit the accumulated charge becomes very high and electricity is discharged towards the ground as lightning.