what is the main difference between a lightning strike and static electricity
1. Static electricity is caused by the build up of electrical charges on the surface of objects, while current electricity is a phenomenon from the flow of electrons along a conductor. 2. When objects are rubbed, a loss and/or gain of electrons occurs, which results in the phenomenon of static electricity.
The precursor of any lightning strike is the polarization of positive and negative charges within a storm cloud. The tops of the storm clouds are known to acquire an excess of positive charge and the bottoms of the storm clouds acquire an excess of negative charge.
Lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge that occurs during a thunder storm. This discharge occurs between electrically charged regions of a cloud (called intra-cloud lightning or IC), between two clouds (CC lightning), or between a cloud and the ground (CG lightning).