Ball lightning. Five of the most amazing and mysterious natural phenomena
Ball lightning. This mysterious phenomenon nature is still very little studied. There are many cases when this clot of crushing energy enters our homes. It penetrates into the room through the slightest cracks, chimneys and even through smooth glass. Ball lightning is a fleeting phenomenon, but sometimes it can be observed within 20 seconds.
Ball lightning is considered a special type of lightning, which is a luminous fireball floating through the air (sometimes shaped like a mushroom, drop or pear).
Getting into the apartment, ball lightning behaves differently: it either goes out, or “splashes” with a crash. Its sizes vary. The most common lightning is approximately 15 cm in size. But there are cases when it reaches 1 meter or more in diameter. When contacting a person, the matter usually ends tragically. But in rare cases this does not happen. Not long ago, such a contact occurred in China: surprisingly, having hit the same person twice, she did not kill him (the incident was shown on TV).
A case of such an encounter with ball lightning is described: in Zimbabwe (Africa), a young woman with such contact escaped with only the loss of her dress and hairstyle. In Pyatigorsk, a roofing worker burned his hands while trying to brush aside a small ball that seemed to be hovering above him. I had to undergo treatment for a long time, because such burns do not heal for a long time. But there are many more cases that end tragically. In the summer there was an incident when a young man who was tending public cattle in a pasture was killed. Ball lightning destroyed him along with his horse.
There have been cases where planes encounter these fireballs. But so far no deaths of the aircraft or crew have been recorded (only minor damage to the skin was noted).
What does ball lightning look like?
Ball lightning comes in different shapes: round, oval, cone-shaped, etc. The color of lightning also has a full range of colors. There are red with different shades, green, orange, white. Some types of lightning have a luminous "tail". What kind of natural phenomenon is this? Scientists say that ball lightning is a plasma clot whose temperature can be 30,000,000 degrees. This is higher than the solar temperature at its center.
Why does this happen, what is the nature of its occurrence. Observations of these “balls” appearing out of nowhere were noted - on a sunny, clear day, mysterious orange balls moved close to the surface, in a place where there were no high-voltage wires or other types of energy sources. Maybe they arise deep in the bowels of our planet, maybe in its faults. In general, this mysterious phenomenon has not yet been studied by anyone. Our scientists know more about the origin of stars than about what happens under their noses from century to century.
Types of ball lightning
Based on eyewitness accounts, there are two main types of ball lightning:
- The first is red ball lightning descending from a cloud. When such a heavenly gift touches any object on earth, for example a tree, it explodes. Interesting: ball lightning can be as big as soccer ball, she can hiss and buzz threateningly.
- Another type of ball lightning travels for a long time along earth's surface and glows with a bright white light. The ball is attracted to good conductors of electricity and can touch anything - the ground, a power line or a person.
Lifetime of ball lightning
Ball lightning lasts from several seconds to several minutes. Why does this happen?
One theory states that the ball is a small copy of a thundercloud. This is how it probably happens. There are always tiny specks of dust in the air. Lightning can impart an electrical charge to dust particles in a specific area of air. Some dust particles are charged positively, others - negatively. In a further light show lasting up to many seconds, millions of small lightning bolts connect oppositely charged dust particles, creating in the air the image of a sparkling fireball - ball lightning.
Ball lightning
Ball lightning is a luminous spherical clot of electric current. Even if it exists, and some scientists doubt it, it is very rare. However, a lot is known about the tricks of ball lightning amazing stories. For example, in 1936, English newspapers talked about ball lightning, which first cut telephone wires near one house, then flew through an open window and plopped into a barrel of water standing by the window. Eyewitnesses claim that the water in the barrel began to boil.
Appearances of ball lightning
Rare occurrences of ball lightning seem to occur after being struck by normal lightning. These glowing orbs range in size between the size of a plum and a soccer ball. Ball lightning comes in red, orange, yellow or blinding white. As the ball approaches, a threatening hissing and buzzing sound is heard.
Types of ball lightning
Based on eyewitness accounts, two types of ball lightning are distinguished. The first is a red lightning bolt descending from a cloud. When such a heavenly gift touches any object on earth, for example a tree, it explodes.
Interesting: Ball lightning can be the size of a football and can hiss and buzz threateningly.
Another type of ball lightning travels along the earth's surface for a long time and glows with a bright white light. The ball is attracted to good conductors of electricity and can touch anything - the ground, a power line or a person.
Difficulties studying
Scientists know little about ball lightning because they are very difficult to study. Firstly, you have to guess where the lightning will appear, and this is almost impossible. Then you need to capture the luminous ball on film or videotape, and this is very difficult, because before you have time to press the button on the video camera, the luminous phenomenon will already disappear.
So the only thing that scientists base their reasoning on is the stories of people who were eyewitnesses of this phenomenon. There is little objective evidence of the reality of ball lightning, therefore many scientists doubt the very fact of its existence. And those who do not doubt find it difficult to explain its nature. Main question is why ball lightning has existed for so long. A flash of ordinary lightning lasts an elusive moment, it occurs at the moment when negatively charged particles of the cloud meet positively charged particles rising from the ground.
Interesting: ball lightning is a small copy of a thundercloud that occurs during a flash of ordinary lightning.
Lifetime of ball lightning
Ball lightning lasts from several seconds to several minutes. How does this work? One theory states that the ball is a small copy of a thundercloud. Here's how it probably happens. There are always tiny specks of dust in the air. Lightning can impart an electrical charge to dust particles in a specific area of air. Some dust particles are charged positively, others - negatively. In a further light show lasting up to many seconds, millions of small lightning bolts connect differently charged dust particles, creating the image of a sparkling fireball in the air.
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Everyone knows how to behave during a severe thunderstorm, and almost no one is afraid of ordinary lightning. But have you ever encountered ball lightning? What is this phenomenon? How dangerous are they?
Appearance
Ball lightning appears before us in in different forms, however, it is always quite easy to recognize it. Most often in nature, ball lightning occurs in the form of a luminous ball. But it happens that they take the form of a mushroom, a pear, or a drop. There were also exotic ball lightnings that took the shape of a donut or pancake.
The color range of ball lightning is striking in its diversity: from black to transparent, but bright, saturated orange, yellow and red colors are still in the lead. Moreover, sometimes it is difficult to guess the color of ball lightning because it changes it like a chameleon.
Their sizes can also be completely different - from a few centimeters to several meters. But most often you can see plasma balls about 20 cm in diameter.
Scientists say that the temperature can be from 100 to 1000 degrees. The mystery of the phenomenon is that, being close to the lightning at arm's length, people did not feel any heat emanating from the lightning, although, logically, they should have received burns.
Behavior
The behavior of ball lightning does not lend itself to any scientific justification. They inexplicably seep through sockets in houses, make their way through the slightest cracks, while changing their shape, depending on the size of the crack. It is impossible to predict the path of ball lightning.
They can calmly hang in one place a few meters from the ground, or they can rush somewhere at a speed of 10 m/s. When near an animal or person, they can circle around curiously and not cause any harm, or they can attack and burn to death.
Another interesting fact– the bodies of people killed by ball lightning do not decompose for a very long time, and no traces are found on them. Some scientists believe that lightning stops time in the body.
Scientific and pseudo-scientific justifications
In science there is great amount hypotheses about the origin and activity of ball lightning. In laboratories it is possible to create objects similar to them - plasmoids. But no one has yet been able to give a logical explanation for this phenomenon.
Previously, it was believed that the prerequisites for the occurrence of ball lightning were rainy weather and the presence of ordinary linear lightning. Some scientists explain the appearance of lightning by the fact that during a thunderstorm, short-wave electromagnetic oscillations arise between the clouds and the surface of the earth. However, when ball lightning began to appear even in sunny, dry weather, this assumption was dispelled.
Of interest is the theory developed by New Zealand scientists. They conducted an experiment and found that when ordinary lightning strikes soil, which contains silicates and organic carbon, a ball of silicon fibers and silicon carbide is formed. When these fibers oxidize, the ball begins to glow and heat up. But so far this theory has not found its final confirmation.
Absence scientific justification The appearance of ball lightning gives impetus to the development of pseudo-scientific theories.
So, there are an incredible variety of fictions and guesses about ball lightning. Some consider them to be special devices designed to monitor life on Earth. Some people claim that lightning is an extraterrestrial being.
Tips: what to do when encountering ball lightning.
1. The main rule: when you detect ball lightning, do not make sudden movements. The air flow can pull it along with it, so don't run! You can still escape from ball lightning by car, but not on your own.
2. Do not turn your back on lightning, try to get out of its path and stay as far away from it as possible.
3. While in the apartment, open the window. As a rule, it will fly out.
4. You cannot throw anything at ball lightning, it can explode like a bomb, and then burns are inevitable.
5. If lightning does hit a person who subsequently loses consciousness, it is necessary to take him out into the air, wrap him in a blanket and immediately perform artificial respiration before the ambulance arrives.
Remember that in daily life Devices for removing ball lightning have not yet been introduced, so be careful and follow safety rules.
An incident from the life of Nicholas II: The last Russian emperor, in the presence of his grandfather Alexander II, observed a phenomenon that he called a “ball of fire.” He recalled: “When my parents were away, my grandfather and I performed the rite of the all-night vigil in the Alexandria Church. There was a strong thunderstorm; it seemed that lightning, following one after another, was ready to shake the church and the whole world right to its foundations. Suddenly it became completely dark when a gust of wind opened the church gates and extinguished the candles in front of the iconostasis. There was thunder louder than usual, and I saw a fireball fly into the window. The ball (it was lightning) circled on the floor, flew past the candelabra and flew out through the door into the park. My heart froze with fear and I looked at my grandfather - but his face was completely calm. He crossed himself with the same calmness as when the lightning flew past us. Then I thought that being scared as I was was inappropriate and unmanly. After the ball flew out, I looked at my grandfather again. He smiled slightly and nodded at me. My fear disappeared and I was never afraid of a thunderstorm again.” An incident from the life of Aleister Crowley: Famous British occultist Aleister Crowley spoke of a phenomenon he called "electricity in the form of a ball" that he observed in 1916 during a thunderstorm at Lake Pasconi in New Hampshire. He had taken refuge in a small country house when “in silent amazement he noticed that a dazzling ball of electric fire, three to six inches in diameter, stopped at a distance of six inches from his right knee. I looked at it, and it suddenly exploded with a sharp sound that could not be confused with what was raging outside: the noise of a thunderstorm, the sound of hail, or streams of water and the cracking of wood. My hand was closest to the ball and she only felt a weak blow.” Case in India: On April 30, 1877, ball lightning flew into central temple Amristara (India) Harmandir Sahib. Several people observed the phenomenon until the ball left the room through the front door. This incident is depicted on the Darshani Deodi gate. Case in Colorado: On November 22, 1894, ball lightning appeared in the city of Golden, Colorado (USA), which lasted for an unexpectedly long time. As the Golden Globe newspaper reported: “On Monday night a beautiful and strange phenomenon could be observed in the city. A strong wind rose and the air seemed to be filled with electricity. Those who happened to be near the school that night could see fireballs flying one after another for half an hour. This building houses the electric dynamos of what is perhaps the finest plant in the entire State. Probably last Monday a delegation arrived at the dynamos straight from the clouds. Definitely, this visit was a great success, as was the frantic game they started together.” Case in Australia: In July 1907 at west coast In Australia, the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste was struck by ball lightning. Lighthouse keeper Patrick Baird lost consciousness, and the phenomenon was described by his daughter Ethel. Ball lightning on submarines: During World War II, submariners repeatedly and consistently reported small ball lightning occurring in the confined space of a submarine. They appeared when the battery was turned on, off, or incorrectly connected, or when high-inductance electric motors were disconnected or incorrectly connected. Attempts to reproduce the phenomenon using a submarine's spare battery ended in failure and explosion. Case in Sweden: In 1944, on August 6, in the Swedish city of Uppsala, ball lightning passed through a closed window, leaving behind a round hole about 5 cm in diameter. The phenomenon was observed not only local residents– the lightning tracking system of Uppsala University, created at the Department of Electricity and Lightning Studies, worked. Case on the Danube: In 1954, physicist Tar Domokos observed lightning in a severe thunderstorm. He described what he saw in sufficient detail. “It happened on Margaret Island on the Danube. It was somewhere around 25–27°C, the sky quickly became cloudy and a strong thunderstorm began. There was nothing nearby where one could hide; nearby there was only a lonely bush, which was bent by the wind towards the ground. Suddenly, about 50 meters from me, lightning struck the ground. It was a very bright channel 25–30 cm in diameter, it was exactly perpendicular to the surface of the earth. It was dark for about two seconds, and then at a height of 1.2 m a beautiful ball with a diameter of 30–40 cm appeared. It appeared at a distance of 2.5 m from the place of the lightning strike, so that this point of impact was right in the middle between the ball and bush. The ball sparkled like a small sun and rotated counterclockwise. The axis of rotation was parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the line “bush - place of impact - ball”. The ball also had one or two red swirls, but not so bright, they disappeared after a split second (~0.3 s). The ball itself slowly moved horizontally along the same line from the bush. Its colors were clear, and the brightness itself was constant over the entire surface. There was no more rotation, the movement occurred at a constant height and at a constant speed. I didn't notice any more changes in size. About three more seconds passed - the ball suddenly disappeared, and completely silently, although due to the noise of the thunderstorm I might not have heard it.” Case in Kazan: In 2008, in Kazan, ball lightning flew into the window of a trolleybus. The conductor, using a ticket checking machine, threw her to the end of the cabin, where there were no passengers, and a few seconds later an explosion occurred. There were 20 people in the cabin, no one was injured. The trolleybus was out of order, the ticket checking machine got hot, turned white, but remained in working order.