More than one hundred lightning bolts strike the earth every second. The Greeks thought the king of gods, Zeus, threw lightning bolts from the stormy skies. Scientists believe that ice particles in the clouds grind together forming an electric charge at the bottom of the cloud. An opposite charge builds up on the ground right below the cloud. One way you can tell there is going to be a thunderstorm is that your hair stands on end because of the electrical charge on the ground.
Little streamers come down from the cloud and up from the ground.
If two of these streamers should meet, you get a current of electricity and you have lightning. These little rivers of electricity are brighter than ten million one-hundred watt light bulbs. The actual lightening bolt is brief, but one bolt can power a light bulb for about a month. Thunder is the deep rumbling sound that occurs after a flash of lightning. The sound is created by the violent explosion of air that has been heated by lightning.