static and lightning

Lightning is a discharge of static electricity in the atmosphere, which causes a bright flash of light. When lighting goes through the air, it heats the air to degrees hotter than the sun's surface about 50,000 degrees fahrenheit. This heating causes the air to expand and contract. This causes the sound called thunder. Lightning is caused by a build up of negative ions in the atmosphere which discharges into the ground causing the negative ions to …

…http://www.jci.co.uk/ControlStatic.html website: http://www.amasci.com/emotor/statelec.html (used to get more resources) website: http://www.nhoem.state.nh.us/mitigation/fig%203-16.htm website: http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/6064/history.html website: http://www.idptech.com/static.htm website: http://www.engr.uky.edu/~gedney/courses/ee468/expmnt/vdg.html website: http://www.ronkurtus.com/physcien/staticexpl.htm website: http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/flammable_static.html