Ball Lightning Created In Lab

NOTE: This blog entry has been superseded by a newer one where you can get updated links and information.

ORIGINAL POST FEB. 10, 2006:

You don't usually hear much about the atmospheric phenomenon known as "ball lightning" but I ran into two articles today about it.

Ball lightning is (believed to be) plasma that has disconnected from a lightning strike and typically moves slowly across the ground for a few seconds -- read more about ball lightning at Science News). I (think) I saw ball lightning when I was a kid.

This week, scientists in Israel have successfully created ball lightning in the laboratory, according to Physicsweb, something that had never been done before. Up until that article, all we had were questionable photos and cheesy artists renderings from the olden days, like the one below. (In theory, you can make your own (simulated) ball lightning in a microwave, but I wouldn't recommend it for obvious reasons).

Ball Lightning - "Globe of Fire Descending into a Room" in "The Aerial World," by Dr. G. Hartwig, London, 1886. P. 267. (NOAA)

NOTE: I also found this for-pay article, which I didn't understand before finding the Physicsweb article, but I now assume it is about the same thing.