1. Lightning
By: Amy Park

2. What is lightning?
Lightening is a sudden electrostatic discharge that occurs during a thunderstorm. This discharge occurs between electrically charged regions of a cloud between two clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.

3. How is lightning an example of static electricity?
This is like a static electricity sparks, but much bigger. Most lightning happens inside a cloud, but sometimes it happens between the cloud and the ground. A build up of positive charge builds up on the ground beneath the cloud, attracted to the negative charge in the bottom of the cloud.

4. Safety measures/precautions
Stay indoors.
Stay away from the electrical equipments such as computers, TVs, or cords.
Stay away from windows and doors.
Do not lie on concrete floors or lean against concrete walls.
Protect your pets: Dog houses are not safe shelters. Dogs that are chained to trees or on metal runners are particularly venerable to lightning strikes.
Avoid plumbing and do not wash your hands.

5. Where does the lightning come from?
Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to- ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity(that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts. Objects on the ground generally have a positive charge.
Where does the lightning come from?