This is called rectification, and rectifier diodes are most commonly used in low current power supplies. A switching diode is most often used to turn a circuit on or off, and band switching diodes are used for switching high frequency band signals.
Thunder occurs when energy from lightning heats and rapidly expands the air. The resulting sound wave gets heard as thunder. While lightning and thunder occur at roughly the same time, lightning travels at the speed of light, or at 186,000 miles a second, while thunder travels at the speed of sound, equivalent to one-fifth of a mile in one second. People see the lightning long before they hear the thunder.
Thunderstorms are small, intense weather systems that make strong winds, heavy rain, lightning, and thunder. Thunderstorms can happen anywhere with two conditions: the air near the Earth's surface must be warm and moist (with lots of liquid), and the atmosphere must be unstable. 100 lightning bolts hit the earth every second, and at any one moment, about 1,800 thunderstorms happen around the earth.