Ball Lightning Wiki. Consequences of a lightning strike. Why does ball lightning glow?
There are more than 400 hypotheses explaining its occurrence
They always appear suddenly. Most scientists involved in their study have never seen the subject of their research with their own eyes. Experts have been arguing for centuries, but have never reproduced this phenomenon in the laboratory. However, no one puts him on a par with a UFO, Chupacabra or poltergeist. We are talking about ball lightning.
Click on your favorite topics! There are many legends and stories about ball lightning. Can scientists explain what a natural spectacle is? Question: Tobias from Wuppertal. The problem is that they are very rare and are usually only visible close to the ground. Ball lightning usually occurs during a thunderstorm, so they will likely be grounded. As a result, scientists are trying to artificially create ball lightning in order to study it.
Ball lightning looks like balls of light, white, yellow or blue, ten to 40 inches tall, they seem to come out of nowhere, float in the air and after a few seconds they carbonate. Supposedly, this glow even penetrates solid materials such as wood or metal. Manakhmal ends with a loud bang, sometimes very quietly and secretly.
Scientists propose to concentrate efforts to search for a signal from extraterrestrial civilizations in the transit zone. Scientists from Germany insist on narrowing the search zone for potentially habitable planets. Rene Hellery and Ralph Pudritz spoke about this in an interview with Astrobiology magazine. According to them, there are currently several methods for searching for exoplanets - planets that orbit other stars. The main one is the so-called transit method, the essence of which is that astronomers observe a decrease in the brightness of a star when a planet passes between an observer from Earth and the star.
New Zealand scientists have developed the following chemical theory. When lightning strikes the ground, the minerals are converted into tiny particles of silicon by extremely high temperatures and evaporate. Particles just a few nanometers in size form melting and filigree silicone spheres, which automatically form a sphere. It rises with steam. Cracked silica burns with oxygen in the air and releases energy in the form of light. The luminosity corresponds approximately to ball lightning. When the melting point of the outer shell of silicon oxide is reached, the remaining silicon is violently oxidized and the flash ball explodes.
DOSSIER ON THE HELL BALL
As a rule, the appearance of ball lightning is associated with strong thunderstorms. The overwhelming number of eyewitnesses describe the object as a ball with a volume of about 1 cubic meter. dm. However, if you analyze the testimonies of airplane pilots, they often mention giant balls. Sometimes eyewitnesses describe a ribbon-like "tail" or even several "tentacles". The surface of the object most often glows evenly, sometimes pulsates, but there are rare observations of dark ball lightning. Occasionally, bright rays are mentioned escaping from the inside of the ball. The color of the surface glow can be very different. It can also change over time.
All images and links in the archive have been removed. Since ancient times, man has shown interest and fear in lightning, a natural phenomenon associated with the gods of ancient cultures and civilizations. It has been an atmospheric phenomenon that has been observed, admired, feared and studied throughout human history.
In Basque mythology, Ortzi, the god of the sky, was also considered the god of storms, and Aidegaxto was the name of the genies who cast rays. Franklin experimentally determined that the charges located at the bottom of the clouds had a negative sign and came to the conclusion that the beam represented an electrical discharge between the cloud and the ground.
Meeting with it mysterious phenomenon very dangerous: many cases of burns and deaths from contact with ball lightning have been recorded.
VERSIONS: GAS DISCHARGE AND PLASMA CLUTCH
Attempts to unravel the phenomenon have been made for a long time.
Back in the 18th century. The outstanding French scientist Dominique François Arago published the first, very detailed work on ball lightning. In it, Arago summarized about 30 observations and thus laid the foundation for the scientific study of the phenomenon.
Willson will begin researching the physics of lightning. Since then, the field of atmospheric electricity has experienced important advances. However, the explanation of the exact mechanisms of cloud electrification and the origins of electrical discharges, lightning and lightning generally still has many gaps based on the complex physics of these mechanisms, as they span a range of 16 orders of magnitude, from the atomic scale to the planetary scale.
Lightning discharges occur in the atmosphere when the electric field associated with the accumulation of charge in a given area becomes large enough to cause the surrounding air to ionize and create a current along the path into the air. The electrical charge transferred in a typical beam ranges from 140 to 250 coulombs. The total duration of the discharge is on the order of 0.2 seconds, and the average current that is transmitted can be thousands of amperes.
Of the hundreds of hypotheses, until recently, two looked most likely.
GAS DISCHARGE. In 1955, Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa presented a report “On the nature of ball lightning.” In that work, he tries to explain both the very birth of ball lightning and many of its unusual features by the emergence of short-wave electromagnetic oscillations between thunderclouds and earth's surface. The scientist believed that ball lightning is a gas discharge moving along the power lines of a standing electromagnetic
waves between clouds and ground. It doesn’t sound too clear, but we are dealing with a very complex physical phenomenon. However, even such a genius as Kapitsa could not explain the nature of the short-wave oscillations that provoke the appearance of the “hell ball”. The scientist’s assumption formed the basis of a whole trend that continues to develop to this day.
Lightning damage can occur from clouds to ground, between clouds, between clouds, from clouds to clear areas, and between areas without clouds. The cloud-to-ground scan actually consists of several intermittent discharges and is finally followed by the loading of the ground into the cloud.
A lightning strike lasts several hundred milliseconds. Each intermittent discharge lasts several tens of milliseconds. Each individual load is initiated by smaller loads called leading loads. Ground-to-cloud intermittent discharge occurs when the electric field near the surface is large enough to allow upward movement of loads.
PLASMA CLUTCH. According to the outstanding scientist Igor Stakhanov (he was called “the physicist who knows everything about ball lightning”), we are dealing with a bunch of ions. Stakhanov's theory agreed well with eyewitness accounts and explained both the shape of lightning and its ability to penetrate holes, re-taking its original form. However, experiments to create a man-made bunch of ions were unsuccessful.
Lightning is the best known and most popular electrical manifestation of the atmosphere, but still there is another series of electrical phenomena in the atmosphere, such as the San Telmo Fire, ball lightning, the subject of this article, auroras, and in the high atmosphere, sprites and blues jets.
During stormy nights, a luminous spherical mass sometimes appears in the sea, attached to the tips of the masts of ships. This is the visible result of a corona discharge from some known object located above the ground. A large difference in electrical potential between the earth and the cloud, created in unfavorable weather conditions, can cause an intense electric field around a pointed object, which can cause electrons to be ejected from the object. This radiation, in turn, can cause dissociation and ionization of surrounding air molecules.
ANTIMATTER. The above hypotheses are quite working, and research continues on their basis. However, it is worth giving examples of more daring flights of thought. Thus, the American astronaut Jeffrey Shears Ashby suggested that ball lightning is born during annihilation (mutual annihilation with the release of huge amount energy) of antimatter particles that enter the atmosphere from space.
The recombination of these molecules releases radiant energy at wavelengths that may be in the visible spectrum. The denomination of globular lightning was applied to a globular mass that advances horizontally, is relatively small, persistent, luminous, sometimes observed in the atmosphere and associated with storms and ordinary rays, and should not be confused with a lightning necklace or ray ball applied to a series of globular masses , relatively small, persistent, luminous and apparently connected to each other, observed from time to time in the atmosphere and often described as residual remnants of the usual emission of rays.
CREATE LIGHTNING
Creating ball lightning in laboratory conditions is a long-standing and not yet fully realized dream of many scientists.
TESLA'S EXPERIMENTS. The first attempts in this direction were made by the brilliant Nikola Tesla at the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, there are no reliable descriptions of either the experiments themselves or the results obtained. In his work notes there is information that, under certain conditions, he managed to “ignite” a gas discharge that looked like a luminous spherical ball. Tesla allegedly could hold these mysterious balls in his hands and even throw them around. However, Tesla’s activities have always been shrouded in mystery and riddles. So it’s impossible to understand where truth and fiction are in the story about hand-held ball lightning.
The research, observation and theoretical description of this atmospheric phenomenon is still being discussed and studied. In fact, the existence of ball lightning has been questioned for a long time and there are still many scientists who are skeptical about this phenomenon, others consider it an electrical phenomenon of the atmosphere.
This phenomenon is a luminous form that is not usually found in the atmosphere, and when it does occur occasionally, there are usually no qualified observers. Photographic recording of these types of electrical phenomena is even less common. Some supposed photographs of ball lightning were finally rejected after much debate.
WHITE CLUTTS. At the US Air Force Academy (Colorado) in 2013, it was possible to create bright balls by exposing a special solution to powerful electrical discharges. Strange objects were able to exist for almost half a second. Scientists have cautiously chosen to call them plasmoids rather than ball lightning. But they expect that the experiment will bring them closer to the solution.
Many of the reports presented on ball lightning were negative because after extensive analysis the explanation for the phenomenon was different: corona discharge, San Telmo fire due to highly localized electric fields, beam and visual effects on the observer's retina due to close flashes of light.
On the other hand, ball ray researchers must face the difficult task of evaluating reports of ball lightning observations that often contradict each other. There is great variation in color, size, motion, energy density, and decay among different collections and reports of ball beam observations.
Plasmoid. The bright white ball only existed for half a second.
AN UNEXPECTED EXPLANATION
At the end of the 20th century. A new diagnostic and treatment method has emerged - transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The idea is that by exposing an area of the brain to a focused, strong magnetic field, nerve cells (neurons) can be made to respond as if they had received a signal through the nervous system.
General characteristics of a ball beam. This strange natural phenomenon consists of a fireball that sometimes appears near the discharge of a normal beam during storms in the atmosphere in an almost motionless motion, maintaining its brightness, shape and size for at least 10 seconds. It is often orange, yellow, white or red, but it can also be green or blue. It turns pale or explodes. Various models have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, but none have been accepted as fully valid.
It has been observed that sometimes the ball beams come close to high voltage cables and then they move along them. Their appearance contrasts with normal storm rays, as they often move along a trajectory near the surface of the earth at low speed, they can remain stationary instantly or suddenly change direction as they move. Contrary to what happens with normal rays, ball rays exist for a long time, from several seconds to even minutes.
This can cause hallucinations in the form of fiery disks. By shifting the point of influence on the brain, you can make the disk move (as perceived by the test subject). Austrian scientists Joseph Peer and Alexander Kendl suggested that during thunderstorms, powerful magnetic fields may momentarily arise that provoke such visions. Yes, this is a unique set of circumstances, but ball lightning is rarely seen. Scientists point out that there is a greater chance if a person is in a building or an airplane (statistics confirm this). The hypothesis can only explain part of the observations: encounters with lightning that resulted in burns and deaths remain unsolved.
Sometimes ball lightning falls suddenly and silently, but other times the disintegration is violent, even explosive, which can displace and damage living beings and objects. Perhaps the most challenging explanation is the large variations observed in these general characteristics. For example, a ball beam is not always spherical, but may have irregular shapes or protrusions and may produce sparks. Its outline is not always well defined, it can only be vague, wrapped in fog.
Some observers heard a sound similar to an electric shock, others call it quiet. Sometimes ball lightning can fall from a cloud to the ground like a massive body, even bouncing off the ground as if it were elastic. But it can also go in the direction of the wind or in the opposite direction.
FIVE BRIGHT CASES
Reports of encounters with ball lightning come in constantly. In Ukraine, one of the latest took place last summer: such a “hellish ball” flew into the premises of the Dibrovsky village council in the Kirovograd region. No people were touched, but all the office equipment was burned. In science and popular science literature, a certain set of the most famous collisions between man and ball lightning has been formed.
The collection and analysis of ball-beam observations has long been the primary method for studying the phenomenon. This is what it is a rare event in nature, which is the scientific method of collecting detailed information in this case was not very profitable. Photographs of ball lightning are unusually scarce. Therefore, great emphasis is placed on detailed observations with more than one reliable witness with good visibility conditions. One must be extremely careful in examining and analyzing each observation because, as mentioned, many cases are simply optical illusions or erroneous interpretations of another meteorological phenomenon.
1638. During an autumn thunderstorm in the village of Widecombe Moor in England, a ball with a diameter of more than 2 m flew into the church. According to eyewitnesses, lightning broke benches, broke windows and filled the church with smoke that smelled of sulfur. In this case, four people died. The “culprits” were soon found - they were declared to be two peasants who allowed themselves to play cards during the sermon.
There are contrasting observations of ball lightning inside closed buildings, near chimneys, and even inside airplanes during storms. This characteristic, which is sometimes represented by a spherical beam, is one of the big problems in developing a theory about it.
Some reports indicate that there is no observable heat production associated with ball lightning, and others indicate damage to objects near the ball lightning. There are a significant number of cases where ball lightning passes through the windows of a building without any damage to the glass. There are estimates of the amount of energy associated with ball lightning that was introduced into the bowl of water, evaporating some of it. Ball dot sightings exist for more than one witness, which provides greater accuracy in the sighting report.
1753. Georg Richmann, a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, conducts research into atmospheric electricity. Suddenly a bluish-orange ball appears and hits the scientist in the face with a crash. The scientist is killed, his assistant is stunned. A small purple spot was found on Richman's forehead, his jacket was burned, and his shoes were torn. The story is familiar to everyone who studied in Soviet times: not a single physics textbook of that time could do without a description of Richmann’s death.
Beam rays associated with volcanic eruptions and tornadoes have been observed. In rare cases, two ball beams have been reported. According to several reports, the spherical mass of a ball beam can even be the source of a spark, light rays, or in some cases, a discharge similar to ordinary rays.
The ball-of-light phenomenon was often considered harmless, as there were frequent sightings in which the beam physically reached the observer without causing any damage and disappearing without noise. However, other reports cite dangerous aspects of ball lightning, including explosions causing death or serious damage, and evidence of large amounts of energy release.
1944. In Uppsala (Sweden), ball lightning passed through a window glass (a hole with a diameter of about 5 cm was left at the site of penetration). The phenomenon was observed not only by people who were on the spot: the lightning tracking system of the local university also worked.
1978. A group of Soviet climbers stopped for the night in the mountains. A bright yellow ball the size of a tennis ball suddenly appeared in the tightly buttoned tent. It crackled and moved chaotically in space. One climber died from touching the ball. The rest received multiple burns. The case became known after publication in the magazine "Technology - Youth". Now not a single forum for fans of UFOs, the Dyatlov Pass, etc. can do without mentioning that story.
2012. Incredible luck: in Tibet, ball lightning falls into the field of view of spectrometers, with the help of which Chinese scientists studied ordinary lightning. The devices managed to record a glow of 1.64 seconds in length. and obtain detailed spectra. Unlike the spectrum of ordinary lightning (there are nitrogen lines there), the spectrum of ball lightning contains many lines of iron, silicon and calcium - the main chemical elements of the soil. Some of the theories of the origin of ball lightning have received significant arguments in their favor.
Mystery. This is how an encounter with ball lightning was depicted in the 19th century.
We live in the most interesting times - it’s the 21st century, high tech are subject to human control and are used everywhere, both in scientific work and in everyday life. A set of people wishing to settle on the Red Planet is being researched and recruited. Meanwhile, today there are various mechanisms of which are still not studied. Such phenomena include ball lightning, which is of genuine interest to scientists around the world.
The first documented case of ball lightning took place in 1638 in England, in one of the churches in Devon County. As a result of the outrages of the huge fireball, 4 people were killed and about 60 were injured. Subsequently, new reports of similar phenomena periodically appeared, but there were few of them, since eyewitnesses considered ball lightning an illusion or an optical illusion.
The first generalization of cases of unique natural phenomenon produced by the Frenchman F. Arago in the middle of the 19th century, his statistics collected about 30 pieces of evidence. The increasing number of such meetings made it possible to obtain, based on the descriptions of eyewitnesses, some characteristics inherent in the heavenly guest.
Ball lightning is an electrical phenomenon that moves in the air in an unpredictable direction, glowing, but not emitting heat. This is where the general properties end and the specifics characteristic of each case begin.
This is explained by the fact that the nature of ball lightning is not fully understood, since until now it has not been possible to study this phenomenon in laboratory conditions or to recreate a model for study. In some cases, the diameter of the fireball was several centimeters, sometimes reaching half a meter.
Photos of ball lightning fascinate with their beauty, but the impression of a harmless optical illusion is deceptive - many eyewitnesses received injuries and burns, some became victims. This happened to the physicist Richman, whose work on experiments during a thunderstorm ended in tragedy.
For several hundred years, ball lightning has been the object of study by many scientists, including N. Tesla, G. I. Babat, B. Smirnov, I. P. Stakhanov and others. Scientists have put forward different theories of the origin of ball lightning, of which there are over 200.
According to one version, the electromagnetic wave formed between the earth and the clouds reaches a critical amplitude at a certain moment and forms a spherical gas discharge.
Another version is that ball lightning consists of high-density plasma and contains its own microwave radiation field. Some scientists believe that the fireball phenomenon is the result of focusing cosmic rays clouds.
Most cases of this phenomenon were recorded before and during a thunderstorm, so the most relevant hypothesis is the emergence of an energetically favorable environment for the appearance of various plasma formations, one of which is lightning.
Experts agree that when meeting a heavenly guest, you need to adhere to certain rules of behavior. The main thing is not to make sudden movements, not to run away, and try to minimize air vibrations.