

Scientists uncover mystery of ball lightning - bootload
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-12/scientists-uncover-mystery-of-ball-lightning/4310800

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cgs1019
Here's a slightly less superficial version of the same article from CSIRO who
produced the work: [http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/CSIRO-explains-the-
myst...](http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/CSIRO-explains-the-mystery-of-
ball-lightning.aspx)

Here's the paper: <http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2012JD017921.shtml>

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bootload
_"... Here's a slightly less superficial version of the same article from
CSIRO ..."_

thx for finding this. There's always a balance between posting a general news
article and the research source. The former is usually shallow, the later too
deep.

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chmike
The full pdf is not accessible and the abstract is too light.

Many ball lightning have been witnessed in absence of windows. What's the
point of such explanation ?

It is a frequent behavior to select one caracteristic of a multi variated
phenomenon and derive from it an explanation. Obviously the explanation can't
account for all the other caracteristics of the phenomenon. But that seem to
be a detail.

BTW my father proposed an explanation of ball lightning that he presented at
AIS in 2011. The proceedings are not yet published.

The explanation is that ball lightnings are plasma bubbles. The plasma is in
the thin layer of the bubble. The ions ocillate radialy. The ball consumes
ozone and follows ozone gradians.

There are two types of lightning balls. One that ends by lighting off silently
and one that ends by an explosition. If my memory is right the difference
comes from the nature of the negative charge carrier. In one case they are
electrons and in the other negative ions. But I'm not sure.

This is just the main idea. There is much more to it.

To create ball lightning experimentally we thus at least need ozone.

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rcxb
The point of this study is to supplament previous studies of ball lightning.
The most widely accepted theory is that ball lightning is a ball of silicon
gas, resulting from lightning striking the ground. That obviously didn't
address the cases of ball lightning appearing in and around aircraft, which is
the gap this study fills in.

So now it seems we have one workable theory of ball lightning. To claim it is
incomplete, you need to find cases of ball lightning that were both a
significant distance away from the ground AND far, far away from any windows.

My doubts about this theory lie in the various behaviors when ball lightning
encouters solid objects... Sometimes it burns a hole, while other times
witnesses claim it passed right through solid objects without causing any
damage. That seems to indicate there may be two very different types of ball
lightning, but perhaps the ground versus windows source will prove to generate
a sufficiently different type of ball which will suit both observations.

~~~
chmike
The silicon gaz is new to me. Never heard of this theory. How would such a gaz
not disolve in air ?

How could it explain the explosions reported with some ball lightning ? The
plasma bubble explains all the reported facts.

A precision to the discribed model is that ions of opposite charge move in
opposite direction radialy. When they crossed each other they slow down due to
the attractive force of the opposite charge up to the point they stop and
reverse direction. This oscillation of the ions explains the stability of the
plasma over a long period.

The plasma bubble layer is very thin. A bubble may contain other bubbles
forming then multi layer bubbles.

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gilgoomesh
They still haven't replicated it or taken a photo. It's just theoretical
modelling.

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aneth4
I'm pretty sure I saw ball lightening once when I was a child. It was in the
courtyard of our house during a lightning store - a ball of translucent orange
that was stationary for a moment before whisking away.

Nobody ever believed me.

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nkoren
This might be _an_ explanation for ball lightning, but I'm pretty sure it
can't be _the_ explanation.

I saw ball lightning once. Got caught in a thunderstorm at 12,000 feet in the
Sierras -- well above timberline -- and watched the lightning striking around
me while I hid under a boulder. I was essentially in the centre of the
thunderhead; things got pretty wild. At one point I saw two or three lighting
balls (I _thought_ they were maybe 1-2 feet in diameter, although estimating
distance in such an environment and which such unfamiliar sights is probably a
lost cause), and one thing in the distance which looked like a bobbling string
of pearls.

The nearest window would have been about 20 miles away, so that can't be the
only explanation.

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pmjordan
I can't comment on the quality of the theory described here, but I hope you
realise there is silicon everywhere - most common minerals contain a
substantial proportion of Si.

~~~
nkoren
My impression is that the theory is not just about silicon, but specifically
about _windows_. Seems to require a smooth silicon-based non-conducting
material, with air on both sides and a charge differential between them.

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stretchwithme
I came across this 2007 publication claiming creation of something similar to
ball lightning.

<http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v98/i4/e048501>

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teeja
Totally misleading headline, crap science journalism. They didn't "uncover"
anything, just invented a new (untested) hypothesis.

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marajit
The title sounds like a Civilization technology discovery 'Scientists
uncover...

