Well Ron, the last time I went over that was in my physics class last year, and I dont remember everything. But here is everything I can recall. Lightning is obviously electriciy, Ben Franklin figured that one out for us a long time ago, maybe back when some of you guys were kids, haha, just kidding. But he figured out, quite dangerously I might add, that lightning is indeed something like a visible path of electrons from the ground to the sky. Most people think that it is something that comes from the clouds, but actually it isnt. Lightning comes up from the ground to the sky. Now here is where it starts to get a little fuzzy. From what I can remember, there is electrical charge in the clouds, which will create lightning between clouds, but the real force behind lightning striking the ground is because the clouds and earth have a different charge. The main reason that the lightning will move from the clouds to the ground is due to ionization of the air in between. Ionization isnt the loss of electrons or protons, but simply these same electrons moving farther away from each other, sort of like a Van de Graaf Generator. Now dont take my word on all of this, I am after all human and subject to mistakes. I will recommend
http://science.howstuffworks.com/lightning.htm for this one. Experts in a field can usually tell you more about it then a student can. Hope it helps. And my advice for teaching is to make sure you know what you are saying first. Because unless you are really good at bsing your way through something, you need to know what you are talking about before you can talk about it. Everyone usually likes the teachers who teach them things.
M@T
