I naively thought that “electricity” is electrons moving from point a to point b under some potential (ie, a current). The electrons have to be able to move, w

I naively thought that “electricity” is electrons moving from point a to point b under some potential (ie, a current). The electrons have to be able to move, which might be small in a conductor or higher in an insulator. And the photoelectric effect appears when photons of the appropriate energy blow electrons from the bound to the unbound state. Can’t say I recall a course that discussed the causes of electricity, so there must be a jargon problem here, I thought lightening came when the charge separation (or magnitude?) at the top of the cloud exceeded any insulation effect of the air. But then uni was a while ago. Fried various low voltage devices with static charges though, and I thought that was lightening writ small.