Ball Lightning Take III, Nice Video
UPDATE: This video is now available from AccuWeather.com, on the topic of Ball Lightning:
[Video Not Available]
In 2004 I wrote on the WeatherMatrix Forums:
[Text Not Available]
Jan. 12, 2007: Ball Lightning has been created for the third time in a lab. (Last time was in a microwave, which was then attempted by many amateurs, with mostly unimpressive results).
Read more about ball lightning at WikiPedia
Ball Lightning - "Globe of Fire Descending into a Room" in "The Aerial World," by Dr. G. Hartwig, London, 1886. P. 267. (NOAA)
Here's a summary of what's been done in the lab thus far:
Location: Israel, Early 2006
Equipment: Microwave Oven "Drill" + Glass
Result: Molten Fireball From Substrate
Location: Germany, Mid 2006
Equipment: High Voltage + Water Tank
Creates: Luminous Plasmoid From Evaporated Water
Location: Brazil, Early 2007
Equipment: High Voltage + Silicon Wafers
Creates: Floating, Burning Aerosol Ball of Silicon
The difference this time is:
1. Their video is really impressive
2. The balls are not contained within scientific equipment
3. The ball lightning is running and jumping around on the floor
The latter point is important, because, as they often demonstrate on Mythbusters, sometimes there's a long way between lab recreation and recreating something where humans live. I've seen ball lightning and I would describe it looking pretty much like what it does in the video.
Previous Ball Lightning Blogs:
Ball Lightning Created In Lab (2/10/06)
Ball Lightning in the Lab, Again (06/06/06)
