THUNDERSTORM CLOUD AS AN ELECTRET SYSTEM Thunderclouds are large aggregates of micro droplets of water and / or micro-crystals of ice that are suspended in air and located at a distance of 0.4 to 13 km from the surface of the Earth. [1] They have a fundamental property that is the long-term generation of a strong electrostatic field, the intensity of which in the pre-thunder clouds is of the order of 3.105 V / m, and is higher in a thundercloud. [2] When the field intensity of the cloud rises to values of the order of 106 V / m, electric discharges, called lightning, arise in it. Long-term generation of a strong electrostatic field is a distinctive property of electrets. [3] Such a field, characteristic of pre-storm and thunderclouds, is evidence of their electret state. In other words, pre-storm and thunderstorm clouds are macroscopic electret systems. Clouds form in the result of the following processes: water molecules evaporate from the Earth's su...
