Wilson's theory of Lightning Wilson's theory of Lightning assumes that many ions are present in the atmosphere which get themselves attached to tiny dust and water particles. It further assumes the presence of an electric field in the earth's atmosphere during fair weather directed towards the Earth. Wilson's theory of Lightning assumes that many ions are present in the atmosphere which get themselves attached to tiny dust and water particles. It further assumes the presence of an electric field in the earth's atmosphere during fair weather directed towards the earth. The field intensity is roughly 1 V/cm at the earth's surface and progressively decreases with height so that at 10,000 m it is only about 0.02 V/cm. Because of the atmospheric electric field, raindrops become polarized, the upper side gets a negative charge and the lower side a positive charge Later, the lower part of the drops attracts negative ions from the atmosphere, acquiring an overall negati