Summary: Key
Points
¥Lightning - electric
discharge in thunderstorms
80% within clouds, 20% cloud to ground
¥Lightning is ubiquitous, with more than
6,000 cloud-to-ground
strikes per minute from more than
40,000 thunderstorms per day worldwide.
¥Lightning requires the separation of
different charges
into different regions of cloud.
¥Charge separation maintains the earthÕs
fair weather
electric field.