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How do cumulonimbus clouds become electrically charged?

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Cb clouds have both updrafts and downdrafts that cause air molecules to have increased friction which causes static electricity. As the level of static electricity increases there will likely be a discharge ie. lightning. read more

I suppose that clouds get negatively charged when they read the news in the papers! :-) (Sorry, I couldn’t resist it!) When the air is very warm and moist, and very cold above, there is a lot of vertical movement; updrafts and downdrafts. read more

All these collisions cause a build up of electrical charge. Eventually, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges. Lighter, positively charged particles form at the top of the cloud. Heavier, negatively charged particles sink to the bottom of the cloud. When the positive and negative charges grow large enough, a giant spark - lightning - occurs between the two charges within the cloud. read more

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