Question

During thunderstorms, positive and negative charges in clouds become separated. Positive charge builds up on the top of clouds, and negative charge builds up on the bottom of clouds.

How might the charged clouds affect the charges in the neutral ground below the clouds? Describe what happens to the charges in the ground.

Answer 1

The charges on the ground are influenced by the charge build up in the clouds. Normally, the ground has a slight negative charge however, when a thunderstorm is directly overhead, the large negative charge in the middle of the storm cloud repels negative charges on the ground underneath the storm.