What causes lightning and how does thunder follow it?

Lightning is when clouds shake hands really hard with each other or with the ground, and thunder is what happens after that shake.

Clouds are like big batteries, they build up a lot of energy inside them, kind of like when you rub your feet on the carpet and then touch a doorknob. That spark you feel is similar to lightning.

When clouds get too full of energy, lightning happens, which is like a super-fast flash of electricity jumping from one cloud to another or from a cloud to the ground. It’s so fast that it feels like a blink in your eye!

Right after that flash, thunder follows, and here's why: when lightning hits, it makes the air around it vibrate really loudly, just like when you shout into a balloon and make it pop. That vibration is what we hear as thunder.

So lightning is the flash, and thunder is the loud “boom” that comes after, like a big, exciting cheer that happens right after the game ends!