Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 5:29 PM EST

The process of lightnincould not occur without induction, a central part to the phenomenon. Lightning involves clouds that are charged. On the bottom of the cloud, there is a negative charge. The top part holds positive charge. A possible reason for this is the water cycle. During condensation, rising moisture can collide with falling precipitation, having electrons being knocked off, which will later gather at the cloud's bottom. An electric field forms because of this, which can become so powerful that it will attract the positive charges in the ground, causing polarization on the ground (this is where the induction comes in). With a positively charged ground and a negative cloud bottom, an electric conductive path between the cloud and the earth is neede. This occurswhen the electric field causes ionization in the air. This ionization provides the perfect condition for easy electron flow, and the path between earth and cloud is complete and an elecctric flow between the earth and clouds can occur in the form of lightning.

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 8:14 PM EST

The phenomenon of lightning would not be possible without the process of induction and polarization.  When the potential difference gets large enough between the clouds and the Earth, electrons are pulled off atoms by the large electric field.  The ionized atoms in the clouds move very quickly, colliding with other atoms, and causing those to ionize as well.  With all of the free electrons flowing around, this creates an induced charge in the ground as it becomes polarized and all of the positive charges are brought to the surface.  A massive flow of charge eventually occurs.  The light that we see is the energy that is released when the ions and the freed electrons come back together to form the original atoms once again. 

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 9:47 PM EST

Induction is the entire basis behind lightning.  The ionized clouds begin building a charge within the clouds that continues to build as more and more atoms collide with each other.  As the charge builds inside the clouds it begins to have an effect on the ground in that it begins to induce a charge in the ground and polarize it bringing positive charges towards the surface.  Eventually enough charge is built up inside the cloud that the electrons are able to travel through air towards the ground.  We witness the travel of these electrons as lightning.

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 10:16 PM EST

Lightning is a result of induction because polarization occurs without the touching of two objects.  Although it is not known exactly how it happens, a charge forms in the clouds.  This could be either a positive or negative charge.  As the charge builds up, the ground slowly becomes polarized.  This takes a tremendous amount of energy to creat polarized earth because most biological substances are non-polar.  As the charge continues to grow, the polarization reaches a critical point.  Molecules in the air may also become polarized which would create a "pathway" to the ground.  In many cases, objects such as buildings, trees, or metal rods are used to complete the pathway to the ground because the electricity follows the path of least resistance.  Once lightning strikes, the static buildup dissipates for a while until the charge has grown significant again.

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 10:21 PM EST

When charge builds up in the upper atmosphere within clouds, be that due to condensation of ionized water particles or the collision of particles in those clouds, a strong negative charge is built up. This charge has nowhere to go, and builds up, eventually polarizing the neutral ground far below it. The electrical energy stored up in the clouds wants to get to ground and eventually as enough charge builds, the electircal energy travels through the air to ground. This phenomenon is witnessed as lightning. Also, the electrical energy once released can bond ozygen atoms together into ozone, which is why people experience a "burnt air" smell after lighting has hit nearby.

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 10:33 PM EST

Lightning is a product of induction because it is basically static electric shocks on a tremendous scale.  When clouds in the atmosphere's atoms rub against eachother and create friction, which gives the cloud a charge as rubbing silk on a glass rod or plastic ruler would create a charge.  When this charge is created, the substances on earth's surface polarize their atoms and arrange so that the opposite charge faces upward due to electric attraction.  When voltage is high enough to cause electrons to travel through the air, lightning occurs.  since there is such a great distance to be covered by the electric shock, the voltage must be outrageously high for electricity to travel between the earth and the atmosphere.

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 10:46 PM EST

The way lighting works is through induction, and polarization of the clouds and the ground. The clouds having a negative charge on the bottom and a positive charge on top, polarize the ground and bring a positive charge to it. The attraction between them causes the atoms in the cloud to move very quickly toward the ground. The atoms collide with others and crash to the ground. All of these ionized atoms crashing to the ground produce a charge in the ground when the ground is polarized. The energy released is what causes the lighting to show.

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 10:47 PM EST

Anonymous is kevin crowe i forgot to put my name in 

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 11:13 PM EST

Lightning is a phenomenon based on induction and polarization since there's no object connecting the clouds with the ground. Charge develops in clouds and as this occurs, the ground polarizes. Eventually the difference in charge between the clouds and the part of the ground closest to the cloud is so great that the air molecules themselves become polarized, providing a path from the sky to the ground, even though air normally is not a conductor. The light in the "lightning" phenomenon can be attributed to the energy released from electrons in the ions before the static regroups to develop charge in the clouds again, continuing the process.

Thursday, 3 January 2008 - 11:20 PM EST

Lightning is a phenomenon of induction because the clouds are positively charged at one end and negatively charge at the other end. So although there is no net charge if the cloud was split into two there would be two parts one positivily charge while the other was negativily charged. The voltage from this cloud and the Earth can be so high that an electric field pulls of atoms from the air. These ionized atoms flow freely through the air producing more ionization. During this time the air acts as a conductor. All this charge reduces the voltage causing this process to be very short. All the lightning shows is when ions and atoms combine to form atoms.

Friday, 4 January 2008 - 9:22 AM EST

Lightning is a phenomenon of induction.  This is because you have clouds that are ionized and that are building charge within themselves and this continues to go on as more atoms continue to collide with each other.  This causes and effect on the ground as these atoms continue to collide with each other, this is known to induce a charge on the ground.  Also the ground becomes polarized and brings positive charges towards the surface of the earth. Subsequently,  after a while there is enough charge built on the inside the could that the electrons are everntually able to travel through the air to the ground. And therfore these electrons that travel through the air can be seen through lightning.

Friday, 4 January 2008 - 9:24 AM EST

Lightning is a phenomenon of induction.  This is because you have clouds that are ionized and that are building charge within themselves and this continues to go on as more atoms continue to collide with each other.  This causes and effect on the ground as these atoms continue to collide with each other; this is known to induce a charge on the ground.  Also the ground becomes polarized and brings positive charges towards the surface of the earth. Subsequently, after a while there is enough charge built on the inside the cloud that the electrons are eventually able to travel through the air to the ground. And therefore these electrons that travel through the air can be seen through lightning.

Friday, 4 January 2008 - 10:23 AM EST

The phenomenon of lightning is the result of induction. This happens due to the fact that the charged particles that exist in the atmosphere will polarize the neutrally charged ground. This will result in an attractive force between the two. When the charge is great enough it will then go from the atmosphere down to the ground in the form of lightning. This is not an everyday occurrence due to the fact that it requires a large charge for lightning to occur in our atmosphere due to the fact that air is a poor conductor of electricity. Air is a poor conductor of electricity due to the fact that there are water molecules in the air that will take away some of the energy that is needed to form the lightning strike. Sorry for the late post.