squeaks where are you squeaks where are you squeaks oh there you are squeaks all right okay
squeaks thunderstorms can get kind of loud and maybe even a little scary sometimes but you know
what sometimes things that are frightening are a little less scary when we understand what causes
them and we can learn what causes things by asking questions that's why we're so glad that we heard
from our friend four year old Elinor who asked why do lightning and thunder happen I'm sure squeaks
would like to know experts called meteorologists study the science of weather including lightning
and thunder we can use what they've learned to explain what causes these bright flashes of light
and the big booms that follow and you may not know it but the science of what causes lightning
can happen right in your own home have you ever walked across a fuzzy carpet and then when you
reach for a doorknob got in a little shock if so then you've been part of making a mini lightning
bolt that shock that you felt was caused by the build-up of what's known as a static electrical
charge a static electrical charge is just a little bit of electricity that stays in one place for a
little while static electricity can build up anytime two things rub together when you walk
across the carpet your body picks up tiny bits of charge then when you reach for that doorknob these
charges jump into the metal doorknobs and zap lightning is caused by the same thing only on a
much bigger scale the kinds of clouds we see in thunderstorms have tiny bits of ice in them and
these little bits of ice bump into each other they cause an electrical charge to build up inside the
cloud and as this charge keeps building up it gets stronger but there are two kinds of electrical
charge we call them positive and negative charges that are different from one another will attract
or pull toward one another a lot like magnets but in our case the charge of the cloud is negative
the negative charge in the cloud makes some spots on the ground get a positive charge and when the
charges in the cloud and the charges on the ground are just right a bolt of lightning jumps between
the cloud and the earth and meteorologists have discovered there are different kinds of
lightning - some lightning goes from one part of a cloud to another some jumps from cloud to cloud
and some goes between the sky and the ground but it's all caused by a moving electrical charge and
all lightning is hot really hot and that heat is what causes thunder thunder starts with the
fact that air is made of tiny particles when these little particles get heated up they start to move
around more quickly so when the hot lightning bolt suddenly moves through the air its heat
makes the air particles around it all excited all those particles of suddenly hot air start to move
around quickly they push hard against the cooler air around them that air then flies away really
fast from where the Lightning was with a lot of energy our ears hear this movement of the
air particles as a loud bang or crackle that's thunder so now you know lightning happens when
an electrical charge builds up inside a cloud and moves to an opposite charge and thunder
happens when the heat from lightning causes the particles that make up air to push away from the
lightning bolt and remember when you're not sure about something ask questions it just might make
you feel better thanks for asking Eleanor and if you have a question for any of us here at the fort
let us know by leaving a comment or emailing us at kids at the scishow com until next time
[Music]