What is lightning? How does lightning strike?

Lightning is an electric spark, but on a huge scale. It is caused by the accumulation of charges in the clouds. When two clouds carrying opposite charges come very close to each other, the charges flow with great speed from one cloud to another through the air between them. Consequently, a very bright spark is produced.

The spark caused due to the transfer of electric charge between two clouds causes lightning. It can occur when electric charges flow from one part of a cloud to another or from a cloud to the ground. Lightning is accompanied by large amounts of electric charges and very high temperatures. The huge amount of heat produced makes the air expand very suddenly what causes vibration to occur, resulting in a loud sound called thunder.