Scientific Explanation of the formation of clouds & the causes of thunder & lightning to illustrate

"আর তাদের উদাহরণ সেসব লোকের মত যারা দুর্যোগপূর্ণ ঝড়ো রাতে পথ চলে, যাতে থাকে আঁধার, গর্জন ও বিদ্যুৎচমক। মৃত্যুর ভয়ে গর্জনের সময় কানে আঙ্গুল দিয়ে রক্ষা পেতে চায়। অথচ সমস্ত কাফেরই আল্লাহ কর্তৃক পরিবেষ্ঠিত। "

“Or (another similitude) is that of a rain-laden cloud from the sky; in it are zones of darkness, and thunder and lightning they press their fingers in their ears to keep out the stunning thunder-clap, the while they are in terror of death. But Allah is ever round the rejecters of Faith!” (2: 19) Al Quran.

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A cloud is a mass of condensed water vapour in the form of tiny drops or particles of water that floats in the air. Rain-clouds which are associated with thunder are known as “cumulo nimbus”, also called thunder-heads; these are tremendous mountain - like cloud masses covering 10 to 100 square miles and reaching great vertical height with the top at 30,000 to 40,000 ft. They can begin from near the surface of the earth to above 6,500 ft.

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The base of cumulo-nimbus is dark because of its great depth which may extend upto 30,000 to 40,000 ft. The solar rays while penetrating it are reflected away by the water and ice particles comprising the cloud and ultimately little light can get through to reach the surface of the earth, and. the cloud when seen from below looks dark. The darkness within the cloud mass is, therefore, not uniform; near the top of the cloud the darkness is very thin and as one proceeds towards the bottom the darkness gradually deepens. Thus we find that within the cloud there are layers of varying degrees of darkness.

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Another phenomenon occurring inside the rain-cloud is the accumulation of electric charges. Reliable data on charge-carrying particles and their motion within the cloud are not fully available.

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A variety of explanations for the origin and nature of the charged regions have been proposed, most of which are based on the idea that the electrification is caused by the falling. of precipitation particles electrified within the cloud by such processes as ion capture, contact electrification, freezing and drop break up. Alternatively, it is suggested that the transport of charged cloud particles by up drifts and down drifts produces the regions of changes in the cloud.

...... According to another explanation when the cloud particles and raindrops carried by strong up drifts of air reach the freezing temperature region of the cloud, the water droplets freeze into ice-pellets ; while freezing they burst and throw off tiny splinters of ice. These ice-splinters carry away a positive charge and leave behind a negative change. ……………….

The positively charged ice-splinters, being much lighter, are carried to the top of the cloud by the strong upcurrent of air. The heavier ice-pellets with negative charge remain at the lower level of the cloud thus completing the charge separation within a cloud. When the build- up of electric charges becomes so great that the intervening air can no longer insulate them, an enormous spark then discharges itself across the positive and the negative areas.

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The voltage between the two oppositely charged or between one of them and the earth may grow upto about 1000, million volts. The spark may occur entirely inside one cloud, or it may leap from cloud to another, or from the cloud to the earth. These sparks a characterized by dazzling flashes of light. Lightning is nothing but luminous discharge in the atmosphere. ……… The massive surge of electric charges in the lightning channel causes tremendous heating (10,0000 degree C) ; sudden expansion of the air takes place and sends out sound waves producing a loud explosive resounding noise, which we hear as the thunder.

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Thus we find that in the rain-clouds there are (i) layers of darkness and (ii) accumulation of electric charges which produce simultaneously (a) luminous sparks called lightning and (b) terrible explosive sound we call thunder.

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The above explanations of the formation of clouds and the causes of thunder and lightning, as supported by the investigation of modern atmospheric science, do clearly illustrate the meaning of the above mentioned ‘ayat wherein darkness, thunder and lightening have been beautifully interwoven into each other.