{"id":89037,"date":"2025-06-01T07:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=89037"},"modified":"2025-06-01T07:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:28:10","slug":"lightning-is-due-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/lightning-is-due-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning is due to"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lightning is due to<\/p>\n

[amp_mcq option1=”The flow of charges between different parts of the cloud” option2=”The short-circuiting of charges between the upper and lower surfaces of the cloud” option3=”The collection of positively charged particles on the base and collection of negatively charged particles at the top of the cloud” option4=”The induction of positive charge on the ground below the negative charge at the base of the cloud” correct=”option2″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n
UPSC NDA-2 – 2024<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Download PDF<\/a>Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe correct answer is B. Lightning is fundamentally a rapid, large-scale electrical discharge, often described as a “short-circuiting” of charges, which frequently occurs between different charged regions within a thundercloud, typically between the upper and lower parts.
\n<\/section>\n
\n– Lightning is an electrical discharge phenomena occurring in the atmosphere.
\n– It is caused by the build-up of electric charge differences within cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds) or between the cloud and the ground.
\n– Charge separation within a cloud typically results in positive charges accumulating at the top and negative charges accumulating at the bottom, although complex charge distributions exist.
\n– When the potential difference between these regions (or between the cloud and ground) exceeds the dielectric strength of the air, an electrical breakdown occurs, creating a conductive channel.
\n– The lightning strike is the rapid flow of electric charge (electrons and ions) through this channel. This discharge can happen within the cloud (intra-cloud lightning), between clouds (inter-cloud lightning), or between the cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning).
\n– Option B describes the rapid discharge (“short-circuiting”) between upper and lower charged regions within a cloud, which is a common type of lightning (intra-cloud lightning). While option A is also a flow of charges, B is more specific about the location and uses the term “short-circuiting” which captures the rapid discharge aspect. Option C describes the cause (charge separation) but gets the common polarity wrong (usually positive at top, negative at bottom). Option D describes ground charge induction, a condition for ground strikes, not the general cause of lightning.
\n<\/section>\n
\nCloud-to-ground lightning is the most dangerous type. The rapid heating of the air along the lightning channel causes it to expand explosively, creating the sound waves we perceive as thunder.
\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lightning is due to [amp_mcq option1=”The flow of charges between different parts of the cloud” option2=”The short-circuiting of charges between the upper and lower surfaces of the cloud” option3=”The collection of positively charged particles on the base and collection of negatively charged particles at the top of the cloud” option4=”The induction of positive charge on … <\/p>\n

Detailed SolutionLightning is due to<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1094],"tags":[1103,1201,1128],"class_list":["post-89037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-nda-2","tag-1103","tag-electric-current","tag-physics","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nLightning is due to<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The correct answer is B. Lightning is fundamentally a rapid, large-scale electrical discharge, often described as a "short-circuiting" of charges, which frequently occurs between different charged regions within a thundercloud, typically between the upper and lower parts. - Lightning is an electrical discharge phenomena occurring in the atmosphere. - It is caused by the build-up of electric charge differences within cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds) or between the cloud and the ground. - Charge separation within a cloud typically results in positive charges accumulating at the top and negative charges accumulating at the bottom, although complex charge distributions exist. - When the potential difference between these regions (or between the cloud and ground) exceeds the dielectric strength of the air, an electrical breakdown occurs, creating a conductive channel. - The lightning strike is the rapid flow of electric charge (electrons and ions) through this channel. This discharge can happen within the cloud (intra-cloud lightning), between clouds (inter-cloud lightning), or between the cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning). - Option B describes the rapid discharge ("short-circuiting") between upper and lower charged regions within a cloud, which is a common type of lightning (intra-cloud lightning). While option A is also a flow of charges, B is more specific about the location and uses the term "short-circuiting" which captures the rapid discharge aspect. Option C describes the cause (charge separation) but gets the common polarity wrong (usually positive at top, negative at bottom). Option D describes ground charge induction, a condition for ground strikes, not the general cause of lightning.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/lightning-is-due-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lightning is due to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The correct answer is B. Lightning is fundamentally a rapid, large-scale electrical discharge, often described as a "short-circuiting" of charges, which frequently occurs between different charged regions within a thundercloud, typically between the upper and lower parts. - Lightning is an electrical discharge phenomena occurring in the atmosphere. - It is caused by the build-up of electric charge differences within cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds) or between the cloud and the ground. - Charge separation within a cloud typically results in positive charges accumulating at the top and negative charges accumulating at the bottom, although complex charge distributions exist. - When the potential difference between these regions (or between the cloud and ground) exceeds the dielectric strength of the air, an electrical breakdown occurs, creating a conductive channel. - The lightning strike is the rapid flow of electric charge (electrons and ions) through this channel. This discharge can happen within the cloud (intra-cloud lightning), between clouds (inter-cloud lightning), or between the cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning). - Option B describes the rapid discharge ("short-circuiting") between upper and lower charged regions within a cloud, which is a common type of lightning (intra-cloud lightning). While option A is also a flow of charges, B is more specific about the location and uses the term "short-circuiting" which captures the rapid discharge aspect. Option C describes the cause (charge separation) but gets the common polarity wrong (usually positive at top, negative at bottom). Option D describes ground charge induction, a condition for ground strikes, not the general cause of lightning.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/lightning-is-due-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T07:28:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lightning is due to","description":"The correct answer is B. Lightning is fundamentally a rapid, large-scale electrical discharge, often described as a \"short-circuiting\" of charges, which frequently occurs between different charged regions within a thundercloud, typically between the upper and lower parts. - Lightning is an electrical discharge phenomena occurring in the atmosphere. - It is caused by the build-up of electric charge differences within cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds) or between the cloud and the ground. - Charge separation within a cloud typically results in positive charges accumulating at the top and negative charges accumulating at the bottom, although complex charge distributions exist. - When the potential difference between these regions (or between the cloud and ground) exceeds the dielectric strength of the air, an electrical breakdown occurs, creating a conductive channel. - The lightning strike is the rapid flow of electric charge (electrons and ions) through this channel. This discharge can happen within the cloud (intra-cloud lightning), between clouds (inter-cloud lightning), or between the cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning). - Option B describes the rapid discharge (\"short-circuiting\") between upper and lower charged regions within a cloud, which is a common type of lightning (intra-cloud lightning). While option A is also a flow of charges, B is more specific about the location and uses the term \"short-circuiting\" which captures the rapid discharge aspect. Option C describes the cause (charge separation) but gets the common polarity wrong (usually positive at top, negative at bottom). Option D describes ground charge induction, a condition for ground strikes, not the general cause of lightning.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/lightning-is-due-to\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lightning is due to","og_description":"The correct answer is B. Lightning is fundamentally a rapid, large-scale electrical discharge, often described as a \"short-circuiting\" of charges, which frequently occurs between different charged regions within a thundercloud, typically between the upper and lower parts. - Lightning is an electrical discharge phenomena occurring in the atmosphere. - It is caused by the build-up of electric charge differences within cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds) or between the cloud and the ground. - Charge separation within a cloud typically results in positive charges accumulating at the top and negative charges accumulating at the bottom, although complex charge distributions exist. - When the potential difference between these regions (or between the cloud and ground) exceeds the dielectric strength of the air, an electrical breakdown occurs, creating a conductive channel. - The lightning strike is the rapid flow of electric charge (electrons and ions) through this channel. This discharge can happen within the cloud (intra-cloud lightning), between clouds (inter-cloud lightning), or between the cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning). - Option B describes the rapid discharge (\"short-circuiting\") between upper and lower charged regions within a cloud, which is a common type of lightning (intra-cloud lightning). While option A is also a flow of charges, B is more specific about the location and uses the term \"short-circuiting\" which captures the rapid discharge aspect. Option C describes the cause (charge separation) but gets the common polarity wrong (usually positive at top, negative at bottom). 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Lightning is fundamentally a rapid, large-scale electrical discharge, often described as a \"short-circuiting\" of charges, which frequently occurs between different charged regions within a thundercloud, typically between the upper and lower parts. - Lightning is an electrical discharge phenomena occurring in the atmosphere. - It is caused by the build-up of electric charge differences within cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds) or between the cloud and the ground. - Charge separation within a cloud typically results in positive charges accumulating at the top and negative charges accumulating at the bottom, although complex charge distributions exist. - When the potential difference between these regions (or between the cloud and ground) exceeds the dielectric strength of the air, an electrical breakdown occurs, creating a conductive channel. - The lightning strike is the rapid flow of electric charge (electrons and ions) through this channel. This discharge can happen within the cloud (intra-cloud lightning), between clouds (inter-cloud lightning), or between the cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning). - Option B describes the rapid discharge (\"short-circuiting\") between upper and lower charged regions within a cloud, which is a common type of lightning (intra-cloud lightning). While option A is also a flow of charges, B is more specific about the location and uses the term \"short-circuiting\" which captures the rapid discharge aspect. Option C describes the cause (charge separation) but gets the common polarity wrong (usually positive at top, negative at bottom). 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