How does lightning occur?

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The phenomenon is caused by an electrical discharge between two clouds (which is more common) or between a cloud and the ground. These clouds are usually of the cumulonimbus type – vertically more extensive, with a smooth underside. They form about 2 kilometers above the ground and extend up to 18 kilometers above. The collision between ice particles within the cloud causes a separation of positive and negative electrical charges. When the difference in charges is very large, an electrical charge, usually negative, called a conductor, weak and invisible, leaves the cloud and zigzags downwards, between 30 and 50 meters in altitude. Due to the intensity of the electric field formed, the positive charges on the ground closest to the conducting beam, called connecters, jump until they find it, thus closing the electrical circuit between the cloud and the ground. Only when the two currents meet does everything light up and the ray can be observed.

In another type of lightning, called positive, the position of the charges is reversed, with a negative discharge from the ground and a positive discharge from the cloud. In positive rays, the discharge originates from the upper part of the cloud, while in negative ones its origin is on the lower side. “Most lightning that strikes the ground comes from clouds. Less than 1% originates on the ground and rises to the cloud. For the formation of both types, discharges from both the ground and the cloud compete, but the most common is from top to bottom”, says space geophysicist Osmar Pinto Junior.