Ball Lightning Mystery Solved? Electrical Phenomenon Created in Lab

[Analog]

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070122-ball-lightning.html

Brazilian scientists may have solved a shocking scientific mystery by creating ball lightning in the lab.

Physicist Antonio Pavão and doctoral student Gerson Paiva of the Federal University of Pernambuco have created orbs of electricity about the size of golf balls that mimic natural ball lightning.


The fluffy-looking spheres spin, throw off sparks, and vibrate.

They also move erratically about the lab, rolling around on the floor, bouncing off objects, and burning whatever they touch (see enlarged photo for stills from laboratory video).

People have reported seeing ball lightning in nature for hundreds of years, but there is no scientific consensus as to what causes the phenomenon.

(Read "Ball Lightning: A Shocking Scientific Mystery" [May 31, 2006].)

"Since Benjamin Franklin, or even before him, different explanations have been proposed," Pavão said.

"But now we are producing balls [of lightning] as a result of silicon combustion. I believe that with our results, ball lightning is losing its status [as a] mystery."

 

[Sceadwian]

It's just a highly energetic plasma, you can make it in your microwave with a match or a grape, though not nearly as big. It's not exactly news I've heard of scientists reproducing ball lightning before a few years ago.

 

[HiTech]

What kind of ground-breaking research should we get excited about that comes from an institution named Federal University of Pernambuco!! More like Brazilian professors discover a new method of preserving bananas for an extra day during export shipping !

 

[justDIY]

in the picture, with the scientist's hand visible, those balls look more the size of peas than golf balls. I've seen larger sparks from a plasma cutter on "Monster Garage"

 

[gerty]

Man I really miss Monster Garage , wish it was back...

 

[dknguyen]

What kind of ground-breaking research should we get excited about that comes from an institution named Federal University of Pernambuco!! More like Brazilian professors discover a new method of preserving bananas for an extra day during export shipping !

Who doesn't like bananas? They're like nature's chocolate bars.

 

[Sceadwian]

Doesn't nature make Cacoa? I like dark choclate myself 65% pure cacoa Just enough sugar and fat to hold it together. I've actually eaten bakers choclate, I'm not sure how much cacoa that is but I'm sure it's illegal. Very nice fine long grain like texture, rich almost mumifying flavor. Scuse me while I drool. Yes, I have a problem.

 

[HiTech]

LOL, how easily we get off topic--- from ball lightning to eating chocolate treats!

 

[Sceadwian]

Chocolate is significantly more real than Ball lightning is to me!
Granted I may be looking up and hoping nothing comes through the roof to prove me wrong while I type this.

 

[hjl4]

Well, until you've seen it, and seen it's potential for damage, then you will be a skeptic.
2 years ago, during a lightning storm, I was sitting on the couch, with my windows open (no air conditioning), and just before a huge lightning strike in the field, a ball, blue in color slowly traveled thru the living room window screen, a distance of 20 ft to the computer in about 3 seconds, and fried my modem.
I had time to see it and and I can't explain what does it. The screen remained intact.
Now I too before this didn't believe or cared much for all those theories.
But I now know different.
Oh BTW, when they say stay off the phone during a lightning storm, they actually mean it, As a week later, the phone line here got hit, and when I took the phone apart, the circuit board traces, were vaporized, just like it never were there. All the components, resistor caps etc... were left intact.
Go figure.

 

[Marks256]

I am lazy (as you all know), so i haven't looked much up about ball lightning. Can some one sum up it properties? I know that it is a ball of plasma, but how does it form, and what does it act like?

 

[hjl4]

Here is what I learned about this phenomenon.
It is Plasma.(they think, as it looks like it)
It can travel in the air or rolls on the ground.
Has been seen by many farmers and people who work mostly outside.

My uncle saw one about 4 ft diameter hit the side of the barn, and again, no damage, other then ensuing lightning strike.
They don't know how to make it, hence the original post of scientist figuring it out.
I imagine it would take a huge amount of energy, to make one.
That's all I know, mostly all scientists agree that it is only possible, in theory, even though many have seen it.
Seeing is believing I guess.
Look it up on Google and you will see pics and all.

 

[Oznog]

The only accepted truth is that it is not understood, but it is undoubtedly real. And not understood as in "it's either A or B, maybe C". There are no plausible ways for it to occur in nature and do what it does. Nothing scientifically similar to ball lightning has been made in the lab, this test included.

Most of ball lightning is associated with lightning storms.
Ball lightning can occur in a closed room! My mom actually was in a downstairs bathroom during a storm, in the tub, and one materialized, rolled across the floor and hit the wall. The fax switch and some other stuff on the other side of the wall was toasted.

So, ball lightning has no apparent energy source. There's no external connection and no known way such energy could be stored inside the ball. It doesn't seem to be composed of a quantity of mass taken from something nearby. For example, the article suggests airplane's aluminum skin is consumed. This would require paint to be blasted off first. If a single gram of aluminum were consumed, it damn well would be recorded and studied as a serious maintenance concern. There's no material common to these reports either.

 

[hjl4]

I agree with you Oznog,
The sphere I saw, was the size of a basketball, and it to, fried a communication device.( one hooked up to a phone line that is).During a lightning storm.
I'm sure it could hit whatever and still cause damage, even though it made it through aluminum window screen without leaving a trace.(no damage)
By the way, what I saw, was perfectly round(spherical), and not distorted like the pictures the scientist on that website show.
And your right, They make a big fuss about airplanes suffering from corrosion, or stress, and I'm sure that would be a major concern, if these balls, even took a gram of aluminum off.

Have a good day.

 

[Sceadwian]

Plasma is easy to understand, when a gas is heated past a certain point it becomes conductive. What's not known is what's going on inside one of these balls. I'm sure it has something to do with the electrical resonance of the plasma itself and it's physical and electromagnetic environment. It's hard enough to catch these things with the human eye, I would kill to see what kind of RF energy they put out. It's basically some kind of strange resonant discharge stuck inside of a small air space. I'd imagine the reason they last so long is because of the tremendous energy used to create them and the physical limitations of the plasma and ambient air interface's ability to disipate power and it's electromagnetic 'leash' to the earth and it's electric field and human produced fields. I can't fathom the amount of energy required to create one the size of a basketball.

 

[Hero999]

The question is if ball lightning is such a mystery then how do you know the lightning generated in the lab or in a microwave is different to that created by nature?

Of course the mechanisms for generating it might be totally different though.

 

[Marks256]

So as of right now ball lightning is considered an anomalic phenomenon? Maybe if ball lightning is figured out, we may have some new light on some different energy sources...