Electricity and rain
DOI: 10.1063/1.3035737
THE GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY and the formation of rain in thunderstorms are closely related through the physical and electrical interactions among colliding cloud particles, raindrops and hail. Our understanding of these processes started with the observations of Benjamin Franklin and Lord Rayleigh, in the 18th and 19th centuries, that electric fields exist in thunderclouds and that charged raindrops can coalesce. Modern theories indicate that different fall velocities of large and small drops are responsible for the separation of charge in the interior of the cloud.
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More about the authors
J. Doyne Sartor, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo..
