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Lightning is a sudden release of electrical energy in the atmosphere; it can occur anytime separate positive and negative charges are brought together suddenly. If you have ever worn woolen socks in the winter, walked across a carpet, and shocked yourself on a metal doorknob you have created a miniature lightning bolt. In clouds, small liquid droplets can acquire large positive or negative charges. Bolts of lightning between a cloud and the ground, or between two clouds, try to equalize the charge. The same processes also occur on other worlds with significant atmospheres: Venus, a planet very much like Earth but with much a denser atmosphere, and Jupiter and Saturn, huge rotating balls of gas.