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 surface, they convect and condense, thanks to which water micro droplets with a diameter of 5-50 μm arise. [2] Their diameter can then increase to 500 - 5000 μm (raindrops).
It is very likely that the mechanisms of the generation of the electret field by liquid water and water contained in micro drops are similar. Given this, knowledge of their structure is possible, based on the provisions of the ion theory of the electret state of water. [ 4 ]
According to The Ion Theory of the Electret State of Water (hereinafter referred to as The Ion Theory), the formation of micro drops of water and micro-crystals of ice and the generation of an electret field by them take place as follows.

Water molecules, absorbing energy from the external environment, disintegrate into free ions: the hydrogen cation (H +) and the hydroxyl anion (HO-), which are displaced in opposite directions, i.e. there is electrolytic dissociation of molecules. The formed free ions instantly interact with the nearest water molecules and, due to this, complex ions arise: the hydroxonium cation (H20.H +) and the hydroxide hydrate anion (H20, H0--). Due to their mutual electric attraction, a cation-anion pair is formed and an electrostatic field of the dipole configuration arises in it. In this field, as a result of the electric polarization, the vectors of the electric dipoles of the water molecules are set parallel to the field vector of the cation-anion pair. Due to this, a hydrated shell forms around it. The cation-anion pair surrounded by a hydrated shell is called the ion dipole. (Figure 1)

Figure 1. The lines of force and the direction of the field strength vector of the ion dipole.

 ß^----------⁺ 

An ion dipole is a supramolecular structure that is formed as a result of a continuous chemical reaction of the electrolytic dissociation of water molecules. [5] This reaction consists of the decomposition of a water molecule into a hydrogen cation (H +) and an anion of hydroxyl (HO-), their hydration and subsequent reconstitution from hydrated ions of electrically neutral molecules. The process of reconstitution from ions of electrically neutral molecules is called ion recombination.

As a result of recombination of the above-mentioned pair of complex ions, the generation of the electrostatic field by the ion dipole ceases and its structure disintegrates, i.e. ion dipole perishes. However, simultaneously with disintegration, the process of the ion dipole formation proceeds as described above. Due to this in a limited volume of water, there is a continuous generation of the electrostatic field.

Ion dipoles, which are in water or in water microcaps, possess internal energy. This energy is converted into kinetic energy due to their rotational or oscillatory motion. Because of the reciprocal translational motion, the ion dipoles approach each other by the distance of the fields of the hydrogen bonds of their hydrated shells. As a result, conjugated dipoles of the following types are formed: 1 type (ß ------- + ß ------- +), 2 type (+ ------- àß ----- - +) and type 3 (ß ------- + + ------- à).
Conjugate type 1 dipoles create an electrostatic field of the dipole configuration. Adjacent dipoles of type 2 create in the spherical zone around them an electrostatic field whose strength has a positive sign (positive monopole), and conjugated dipoles of type 3 create a field in the spherical zone around itself, the intensity of which has a negative sign (negative monopole).
Both the ion dipole and the conjugated ion dipole are open systems that, in accordance with the law of progressive development, are transformed into macroscopic structures. [6] In particular, in accordance with this law, micro droplets of water form clouds.
Pre-thunder and thunder clouds are characterized by the horizontal arrangement of zones, mainly containing either negatively or positively electrically charged water droplets (Figure 2)

Figure 2. Arrangement of zones of electrically positive and electrically negative micro droplets of water in a pre-storm cloud. [7]

According to The Ion Theory, positively charged micro droplets of water are associations of conjugate ion dipoles of type 2 (+ ------- àß ------- +), and negatively charged droplets are associations of conjugate ion dipoles of type 3 (+ ------- àß ------- +). The different height of the location of micro droplets is due to their specific gravity, i.e. the number of ion dipoles that contains a micro droplet.

Thus, based on the positions of The Ion Theory of The Electret State of Water, one can explain the mechanism of the long-term generation of a strong electrostatic field by micro-drops of water, their properties and location in thunderstorm clouds.