Charges in a cloud
Rubbing charges the ice and the water drops.
Inside a cloud
In a cloud, strong winds blow upwards and downwards. Ice particles and water droplets rub against each other.
What happens when objects rub against each other?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Upward and downward winds rub ice particles against water droplets and charge them; lighter positive ice particles gather at the top and heavier negative droplets at the bottom of the cloud, and the negative cloud base makes the ground below positively charged.
Inside a cloud
In a cloud, strong winds blow upwards and downwards. Ice particles and water droplets rub against each other.
What happens when objects rub against each other?
- They get charged
- They become heavier
- They become colder
Look inside
Press Next step to see the charges move.
Separated charges
The up and down winds make ice particles and water droplets rub, so static charges develop. Lighter positive ice particles rise to the top. Heavier negative droplets stay at the bottom. The negative base then makes the ground below positively charged.
In a thundercloud, positive ice particles gather at the top and negative water droplets at the bottom. The negative cloud base makes the ground positively charged.
- Place | Charge
- Top of the cloud | Positive
- Bottom of the cloud | Negative
- Ground below the cloud | Positive
Notes
Positive ice on top, negative droplets at the bottom; the ground becomes positive.
Check yourself
Charges develop in a cloud because …
In a cloud the lighter ice particles have …
The lower part of a cloud, made of heavier water droplets, is …
When the negative bottom of a cloud comes close to the ground, the ground becomes …
- the cloud becomes heavy. Rubbing against each other causes static charges.
- ice particles and water droplets rub against each other — correct. Yes!
- the sun shines on it. Strong winds make ice and droplets rub, which charges them.
- a negative charge and go to the lower part. The lighter ice particles are positive and go up.
- no charge. They are charged because of rubbing.
- a positive charge and go to the upper part — correct. Yes!
- negatively charged — correct. Yes!
- positively charged. The heavier droplets in the lower part are negatively charged.
- not charged. Rubbing has charged them.
- negatively charged. The ground gets the opposite charge, which is positive.
- positively charged — correct. Yes!
- neutral for ever. The negative cloud base makes the ground positively charged.