How do you get static electricity? How does that work?
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Electrons aren’t as securely attached to their atoms as you might think. Certain atoms have configuration of electrons that leave one or more electrons only loosely attached. At the same time, other atoms might have space for that electron. So when those two atoms come close enough to one another the electron will snap over to the atom with space. Over time this can happen many many many times. However as the atoms themselves are gaining that electron as a whole and filling that space the material didn’t need the electrons so it is building up a negative charge while the other material is losing electrons it needed overall so it builds a positive charge. If that charge is large enough the electrons can jump across the gap in an electrical arc to balance the materials out again.
This is what happens in thunderstorms. Dust, water, and air molecules jostle into each other in such a way that negative charge builds up close to the ground while positive charge builds up in the cloud. Eventually the charge is so great that the air close to the ground and the cloud doesn’t provide enough resistance and the charge arcs down in a blinding flash of lightning.
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