What is ball lightning and why is it dangerous? Ball lightning Cause of ball lightning

Ball lightning- a rare natural phenomenon that looks like a luminous formation floating in the air. To date, no unified physical theory of the occurrence and course of this phenomenon has been presented; there are also scientific theories, which reduce the phenomenon to hallucinations. There are many hypotheses explaining the phenomenon, but none of them has received absolute recognition in the academic environment. IN laboratory conditions Similar, but short-term, phenomena were obtained by several in different ways, so the question about the nature of ball lightning remains open. As of the beginning of the 21st century, not a single experimental installation has been created in which this natural phenomenon would be artificially reproduced in accordance with the descriptions of eyewitnesses of the observation of ball lightning.

It is widely believed that ball lightning is a phenomenon of electrical origin, of natural nature, that is, it is a special type of lightning that exists for a long time and has the shape of a ball capable of moving along an unpredictable trajectory, sometimes surprising to eyewitnesses.

Traditionally, the reliability of many eyewitness accounts of ball lightning remains in doubt, including:

the very fact of observing at least some phenomenon;
the fact of observing ball lightning, and not some other phenomenon;
individual details of the phenomenon given in an eyewitness account.

Doubts about the reliability of many evidence complicate the study of the phenomenon, and also create the ground for the appearance of various speculative and sensational materials allegedly related to this phenomenon.

According to eyewitnesses, ball lightning usually appears in thundery, stormy weather; often (but not necessarily) along with regular lightning. Most often, it seems to “emerge” from the conductor or is generated by ordinary lightning, sometimes it descends from the clouds, in rare cases it suddenly appears in the air or, as eyewitnesses report, can come out of some object (tree, pillar).

Due to the fact that the appearance of ball lightning as a natural phenomenon occurs rarely, and attempts to artificially reproduce it on the scale of a natural phenomenon fail, the main material for studying ball lightning is the testimony of random eyewitnesses unprepared for observations. In some cases, contemporary eyewitnesses took photographs and/or videos of the phenomenon. But at the same time, the low quality of these materials does not allow them to be used for scientific purposes.

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Phenomenon and science

Until 2010, the question of the existence of ball lightning was fundamentally refutable. As a result of this, and also under the pressure of the presence of many eyewitnesses, it was impossible to deny the existence of ball lightning in scientific publications.

Thus, in the preface to the bulletin of the RAS Commission for Combating Pseudoscience, “In Defense of Science,” No. 5, 2009, the following formulations were used:

Of course, there is still a lot of uncertainty about ball lightning: it does not want to fly into scientists’ laboratories equipped with appropriate instruments.

The theory of the origin of ball lightning, which meets Popper's criterion, was developed in 2010 by Austrian scientists Joseph Peer and Alexander Kendl from the University of Innsbruck. They published in scientific journal Physics Letters A proposal that evidence of ball lightning can be understood as a manifestation of phosphenes - visual sensations without exposure to light on the eye, that is, ball lightning is a hallucination.

Their calculations show that the magnetic fields of certain lightning strikes with repeated discharges induce electric fields in the neurons of the visual cortex, which appear to humans as ball lightning. Phosphenes can occur in people up to 100 meters from a lightning strike.

This instrumental observation probably means that the phosphene hypothesis is not complete.

Observation history

Great contribution The work on observing and describing ball lightning was contributed by the Soviet scientist I. P. Stakhanov, who, together with S. L. Lopatnikov, published an article on ball lightning in the journal “Knowledge is Power” in the 1970s. At the end of this article he attached a questionnaire and asked eyewitnesses to send him their detailed memories of this phenomenon. As a result, he accumulated extensive statistics - more than a thousand cases, which allowed him to generalize some of the properties of ball lightning and propose his own theoretical model of ball lightning.

Historical evidence

Thunderstorm at Widecombe-in-the-Moor

On October 21, 1638, lightning appeared during a thunderstorm in the church of the village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon County, England. Eyewitnesses said that a huge fireball about two and a half meters in diameter flew into the church. He knocked several large stones and wooden beams out of the church walls. The ball then allegedly broke benches, broke many windows and filled the room with thick, dark smoke that smelled of sulfur. Then it split in half; the first ball flew out, breaking another window, the second disappeared somewhere inside the church. As a result, 4 people were killed and 60 were injured. The phenomenon was explained by the “coming of the devil”, or “hell fire” and was blamed on two people who dared to play cards during the sermon.

Incident on board the Montag

The impressive size of lightning was reported from the words of the ship's doctor Gregory in 1749. Admiral Chambers, aboard the Montag, went on deck around noon to measure the ship's coordinates. He spotted a fairly large blue fireball about three miles away. The order was immediately given to lower the topsails, but the balloon was moving very quickly, and before the course could be changed, it took off almost vertically, and being not more than forty or fifty yards above the rig, disappeared with a powerful explosion, which is described as the simultaneous discharge of a thousand guns. The top of the mainmast was destroyed. Five people were knocked down, one of them received multiple bruises. The ball left behind a strong smell of sulfur; Before the explosion, its size reached the size of a millstone.

Death of Georg Richmann The case of the ship "Warren Hastings"

One British publication reported that in 1809 the ship Warren Hastings was “attacked by three fireballs” during a storm. The crew saw one of them go down and kill a man on the deck. The one who decided to take the body was hit by the second ball; he was knocked off his feet and had minor burns on his body. The third ball killed another person. The crew noted that after the incident there was a disgusting smell of sulfur hanging over the deck.

Description in the book by Wilfried de Fonvielle “Lightning and Glow”

The book by the French author reports about 150 encounters with ball lightning: “Apparently, ball lightning is strongly attracted by metal objects, so they often end up near balcony railings, water pipes and gas pipes. They do not have a specific color, their shade can be different, for example in Köthen in the Duchy of Anhalt the lightning was green. M. Colon, deputy chairman of the Paris Geological Society, saw the ball slowly descend along the bark of a tree. After touching the surface of the ground, it jumped and disappeared without an explosion. On September 10, 1845, in the Corretse Valley, lightning flew into the kitchen of one of the houses in the village of Salagnac. The ball rolled through the entire room without causing any damage to the people there. Having reached the barn adjacent to the kitchen, it suddenly exploded and killed a pig accidentally locked there. The animal was not familiar with the wonders of thunder and lightning, so it dared to smell in the most obscene and inappropriate way. Lightning does not move very fast: some have even seen them stop, but this makes the balls cause no less destruction. The lightning that flew into the church in the city of Stralsund, during the explosion, threw out several small balls, which also exploded like artillery shells.”

Remarque in literature of 1864

In the 1864 edition of A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer discusses "ball lightning." In his description, lightning appears as a slow-moving fireball of explosive gas that sometimes descends to the ground and moves along its surface. It is also noted that the balls can split into smaller balls and explode “like a cannon shot.”

Other evidence

There is a reference to ball lightning in a series of children's books by author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Although the stories in the books are considered fictional, the author insists that they really happened in her life. According to this description, during a snowstorm in winter, three balls appeared near the cast-iron stove. They appeared near the chimney, then rolled across the floor and disappeared. At the same time, Carolina Ingalls, the writer’s mother, was chasing them with a broom.
On April 30, 1877, ball lightning flew into the central temple of Amritsar (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.
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 electrical and dynamos of what is probably the finest plant in the entire state. Apparently, last Monday, a delegation came straight from the clouds to the prisoners of the dynamos. Definitely, this visit was a great success, as was the frantic game they started together.”
In July 1907, on the west coast of 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.

Contemporary evidence

Submariners have repeatedly and consistently reported small ball lightning occurring in the confined space of a submarine. They appeared when the battery was turned on, turned off, or incorrectly turned on, or when high-inductance electric motors were disconnected or incorrectly connected. Attempts to reproduce the phenomenon using a spare submarine battery ended in failure and explosion.

On August 6, 1944, 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 not only observed by local residents, but also the lightning tracking system of Uppsala University, which is located in the Department of Electricity and Lightning Studies, also triggered.
In 1954, physicist Tar Domokos observed lightning in a severe thunderstorm. He described what he saw in sufficient detail: “It happened on a warm summer day on Margaret Island on the Danube. It was somewhere around 25-27 degrees Celsius, the sky was quickly overcast, and a strong thunderstorm was approaching. Thunder was heard in the distance. The wind rose and it began to rain. The storm front was moving very quickly. There was nothing nearby where one could hide; nearby there was only a lonely bush (about 2 m high), which was bent by the wind towards the ground. The humidity rose to almost 100% due to the rain. Suddenly, right in front of me (about 50 meters away) lightning struck the ground (at a distance of 2.5 m from the bush). I have never heard such a roar in my life. 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 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 reddish curls or tails that extended to the right back (to the north), but not as bright as the sphere itself. They poured into the ball a fraction of a second later (~0.3 s). The ball itself moved slowly and at a constant speed horizontally along the same line from the bush. Its colors were clear and its brightness was consistent across its 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 instantly disappeared, and completely silently, although due to the noise of the thunderstorm I might not have heard it.” The author himself suggests that the temperature difference inside and outside the channel of ordinary lightning, with the help of a gust of wind, formed a kind of vortex ring, from which the observed ball lightning was then formed.
On August 17, 1978, a group of five Soviet climbers (Kavunenko, Bashkirov, Zybin, Koprov, Korovkin) descended from the top of Mount Trapezium and stopped for the night at an altitude of 3900 meters. According to V. Kavunenko, an international master of sports in mountaineering, ball lightning of a bright yellow color the size of a tennis ball appeared in a closed tent, which for a long time moved chaotically from body to body, making a cracking noise. One of the athletes, Oleg Korovkin, died on the spot from lightning contact with the solar plexus area, the rest were able to call for help and were taken to city hospital Pyatigorsk from a large number 4th degree burns of unexplained origin. The incident was described by Valentin Akkuratov in the article “Meeting with a Fireball” in the January 1982 issue of the Tekhnika-Molodezhi magazine.
In 2008, in Kazan, ball lightning flew into the window of a trolleybus. The conductor, using a validator, 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 broke down, the validator got hot and turned white, but remained in working order.
On July 10, 2011, in the Czech city of Liberec, ball lightning appeared in the control building of the city emergency services. A ball with a two-meter tail jumped up to the ceiling directly from the window, fell to the floor, jumped up to the ceiling again, flew 2-3 meters, and then fell to the floor and disappeared. This frightened the employees, who smelled burning wiring and believed that a fire had started. All computers froze (but did not break), communications equipment was out of order overnight until it was repaired. In addition, one monitor was destroyed.
On August 4, 2012, ball lightning scared a villager in the Pruzhansky district of the Brest region. As the newspaper “Rayonnaya Budni” reports, ball lightning flew into the house during a thunderstorm. Moreover, as the owner of the house Nadezhda Vladimirovna Ostapuk told the publication, the windows and doors in the house were closed and the woman could not understand how the fireball entered the room. Fortunately, the woman realized that she shouldn’t make any sudden movements, and just sat there, watching the lightning. Ball lightning flew over her head and discharged into the electrical wiring on the wall. As a result of the unusual natural phenomenon, no one was injured, only the interior decoration of the room was damaged, the publication reports.

Artificial reproduction of the phenomenon

Overview of Artificial Reproduction Approaches

Since the appearance of ball lightning can be traced to a clear connection with other manifestations of atmospheric electricity (for example, ordinary lightning), most experiments were carried out according to the following scheme: a gas discharge was created (the glow of gas discharges is widely known), and then conditions were sought when the luminous discharge could exist in the form of a spherical body. But researchers experience only short-term gas discharges of a spherical shape, lasting a maximum of a few seconds, which does not correspond to eyewitness accounts of natural ball lightning. A. M. Khazen put forward the idea of a ball lightning generator consisting of a microwave transmitter antenna, a long conductor and a high voltage pulse generator.

List of statements

Several claims have been made about producing ball lightning in laboratories, but these claims have generally been met with skepticism in the academic community. The question remains open: “Are the phenomena observed in laboratory conditions really identical to the natural phenomenon of ball lightning?”

Attempts at theoretical explanation

In our age, when physicists know what happened in the first seconds of the existence of the Universe, and what is happening in yet undiscovered black holes, we still have to admit with surprise that the main elements of antiquity - air and water - still remain a mystery to us.

Most theories agree that the cause of the formation of any ball lightning is associated with the passage of gases through an area with a large difference in electrical potential, which causes the ionization of these gases and their compression into a ball [ ] .

Experimental verification existing theories is difficult. Even if we count only assumptions published in serious scientific journals, then the number of theoretical models that to varying degrees success in describing the phenomenon and answering these questions is quite large.

Classification of theories

Based on the location of the energy source that supports the existence of ball lightning, theories can be divided into two classes:
- suggesting an external source;
- suggesting that the source is located inside ball lightning.

Review of existing theories

S. P. Kurdyumov’s hypothesis about the existence of localized dissipative structures in nonequilibrium media: “...The simplest manifestations of localization processes in nonlinear media are vortices... They have certain sizes, lifetime, can spontaneously arise when flowing around bodies, appear and disappear in liquids and gases in intermittency regimes close to a turbulent state. An example is solitons arising in various nonlinear media. Even more difficult (from the point of view of certain mathematical approaches) are dissipative structures... in certain areas of the medium, localization of processes in the form of solitons, autowaves, dissipative structures can take place... it is important to highlight... the localization of processes on the medium in the form of structures having a certain shape, architecture.”
Kapitza P. L conjecture. about the resonant nature of ball lightning in an external field: a standing electromagnetic wave arises between the clouds and the ground, and when it reaches a critical amplitude, an air breakdown occurs in some place (most often, closer to the ground), and a gas discharge is formed. In this case, ball lightning appears to be “strung” on power lines standing wave and will move along conducting surfaces. The standing wave is then responsible for the energy supply of ball lightning. ( "...With sufficient voltage electric field conditions must arise for an electrodeless breakdown, which, through ionization resonant absorption by the plasma, should develop into a luminous ball with a diameter equal to approximately a quarter of the wavelength").
Shironosov V. G. hypothesis: a self-consistent resonant model of ball lightning is proposed based on the works and hypotheses of: S. P. Kurdyumova (on the existence of localized dissipative structures in nonequilibrium media); Kapitsa P.L. (on the resonant nature of ball lightning in an external field). The resonant model of ball lightning by P. L. Kapitsa, while explaining many things most logically, did not explain the main thing - the reasons for the emergence and long-term existence of intense short-wave electromagnetic oscillations during a thunderstorm. According to the theory put forward, inside ball lightning, in addition to the short-wave electromagnetic oscillations assumed by P. L. Kapitsa, there are additional significant magnetic fields of tens of megaoersteds. To a first approximation, ball lightning can be considered as a self-stable plasma - “holding” itself in its own resonant variables and constants magnetic fields. The resonant self-consistent model of ball lightning made it possible to explain not only its many mysteries and features qualitatively and quantitatively, but also, in particular, to outline a path for the experimental production of ball lightning and similar self-stable plasma resonance formations controlled by electromagnetic fields. It is interesting to note that the temperature of such a self-contained plasma in the understanding of chaotic motion will be “close” to zero due to the strictly ordered synchronous motion of charged particles. Accordingly, the lifetime of such ball lightning (resonant system) is long and proportional to its quality factor.
A fundamentally different hypothesis is that of B.M. Smirnov, who has been studying the problem of ball lightning for many years. In his theory, the core of ball lightning is an interwoven cellular structure, something like an airgel, that provides a strong frame with low weight. Only the frame threads are plasma threads, not solid. And the energy reserve of ball lightning is entirely hidden in a huge surface energy such a microporous structure. Thermodynamic calculations based on this model, in principle, do not contradict the observed data.
Another theory explains the entire set of observed phenomena by thermochemical effects occurring in saturated water vapor in the presence of a strong electric field. The energy of ball lightning here is determined by the heat of chemical reactions involving water molecules and their ions. The author of the theory is confident that it provides a clear answer to the mystery of ball lightning.
The next theory suggests that ball lightning is heavy positive and negative air ions formed during a strike by ordinary lightning, the recombination of which is prevented by their hydrolysis. Under the influence of electrical forces, they gather into a ball and can coexist for quite a long time until their water “coat” collapses. This also explains the fact that the color of ball lightning is different and its direct dependence on the time of existence of ball lightning itself - the rate of destruction of the water “coats” and the beginning of the process of avalanche recombination.
According to another theory, ball lightning is Rydberg matter [ ] . Group L.Holmlid. is engaged in the preparation of Rydberg substance in laboratory conditions, not yet for the purpose of producing ball lightning, but mainly for the purpose of obtaining powerful electron and ion flows, using the fact that the work function of Rydberg substance is very small, a few tenths of an electron volt. The assumption that ball lightning is a Rydberg substance describes much more of its observed properties, from the ability to arise under different conditions, to consist of different atoms, to the ability to pass through walls and restore its spherical shape. They also try to explain plasmoids produced in liquid nitrogen by a Rydberg substance condensate. A ball lightning model based on spatial Langmuir solitons in a plasma with diatomic ions was used.
An unexpected approach to explaining the nature of ball lightning has been proposed over the past six years by V.P. Torchigin, according to which ball lightning is an incoherent optical spatial soliton, the curvature of which is non-zero. Translated into more accessible language, ball lightning is a thin layer of highly compressed air in which ordinary intense white light circulates in all possible directions. This light, due to the electrostrictive pressure it creates, ensures air compression. In turn, the compressed air acts as a light guide, which prevents the emission of light into free space [ ] . We can say that ball lightning is a self-limited intense light or light bubble that arose from ordinary linear lightning [ ] . Like an ordinary light beam, a bubble of light in the earth's atmosphere is displaced in the direction of the refractive index of the air in which it is located.
As for attempts to reproduce ball lightning in the laboratory, Nauer in 1953 and 1956 reported the production of luminous objects, observable properties which completely coincide with the properties of light bubbles. The properties of light bubbles can be obtained theoretically based on generally accepted physical laws. The objects observed by Nauer are not affected by electric and magnetic fields, they emit light from their surface, they can bypass obstacles and retain their integrity after penetrating through small holes. Nauer assumed that the nature of these objects had nothing to do with electricity. The relatively short lifetime of such objects (a few seconds) is explained by the low stored energy due to the weak power of the electrical discharge used. As the stored energy increases, the degree of air compression in the shell of the light bubble increases, which leads to an improvement in the ability of the light guide to limit the light circulating in it and to a corresponding increase in the lifetime of the light bubble. Nauer's works represent a unique [ ] a case where experimental confirmation of a theory appeared 50 years before the theory itself.
In the works of M. Dvornikov, a model of ball lightning was developed, based on spherically symmetric nonlinear oscillations of charged particles in plasma. These oscillations were considered within the framework of classical and quantum mechanics. It was discovered that the most intense plasma oscillations occur in the central regions of ball lightning. It has been suggested that bound states of radially oscillating charged particles with oppositely oriented spins can arise in ball lightning - an analogue of Cooper pairs, which in turn can lead to the emergence of a superconducting phase inside ball lightning. Previously, the idea of superconductivity in ball lightning was expressed in works. Also, within the framework of the proposed model, the possibility of the occurrence of ball lightning with a compound nucleus was investigated.
Austrian scientists from the University of Innsbruck Josef Peer and Alexander Kendl in their work published in a scientific journal Physics Letters A, described the effects of magnetic fields generated by lightning on the human brain. According to them, in the visual centers of the cerebral cortex, so-called phosphenes arise - visual images that appear in a person when the brain or optic nerve is exposed to strong electromagnetic fields. Scientists compare this effect with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), when magnetic impulses are sent to the cerebral cortex, provoking the appearance of phosphenes. TMS is often used as a diagnostic procedure in an outpatient setting. Thus, physicists believe, when a person thinks that there is ball lightning in front of him, in fact it is phosphenes. “When someone is within a few hundred meters of a lightning strike, they may experience a white blur in their eyes for a few seconds,” explains Kendle. “This occurs under the influence of an electromagnetic pulse on the cerebral cortex.” True, this theory does not explain how ball lightning can be captured on video.
Russian mathematician M.I. Zelikin proposed an explanation of the phenomenon of ball lightning, based on the as yet unconfirmed hypothesis of plasma superconductivity. [ ]
In the work of A. M. Khazen, a model of ball lightning was developed as a plasma clot with a non-uniform dielectric constant existing in the electric field of a thunderstorm. Electric potential is described by an equation like the Schrödinger equation.

In fiction

Notes

White spots of science Top-10 “Popular mechanics” No. 11, 2013 Ball lightning
admin. Ball lightning - a miracle of nature - News about space (Russian) , News about space(April 10, 2017). Retrieved April 10, 2017.
Cen, Jianyong; Yuan, Ping; Xue, Simin (17 January 2014). "Observation of the Optical and Spectral Characteristics of Ball Lightning". Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society) 112 (035001)
The pressure of pseudoscience does not weaken // Commission for the fight against pseudoscience and falsification of scientific research
Physics Letters A, Volume 347, Issue 29, pp. 2932-2935 (2010). Erratum and addendum: Physics Letters A, Volume 347, Issue 47, pp. 4797-4799 (2010)
Mysterious ball lightning: Illusion or reality
Igor Ivanov. For the first time, the spectrum of the glow of ball lightning was obtained (undefined) . Elements.ru (January 20, 2014). Retrieved January 21, 2014. Archived January 21, 2014.
Observation of the Optical and Spectral Characteristics of Ball Lightning(English) . Physical Review Letters .
I. Stakhanov “The physicist who knew more than anyone else about ball lightning”
Klotblixten - naturens olösta gåta (undefined) . www.hvi.uu.se. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
Observation of Lightning Ball (Ball Lightning): A new phenomenological description of the phenomenon
Valentin Akkuratov Meeting with a fireball
A conductor from Kazan saved the passengers of a trolleybus into which ORT ball lightning flew
Kulový blesk přehodil dispečink liberecké záchranky na manuál (undefined) . iDNES.cz (10 July 2011). Retrieved July 29, 2016.
Ball lightning frightened a villager in the Brest region - News of Incidents. [email protected]
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K. L. Corum, J. F. Corum “Experiments on the creation of ball lightning using a high-frequency discharge and electrochemical fractal clusters” // UFN, 1990, v. 16 0. issue 4.
A. I. Egorova, S. I. Stepanova and G. D. Shabanova, Demonstration of ball lightning in the laboratory,UFN,vol.174,issue 1,pp.107-109,(2004)
Barry J.D. Ball Lightning and Bead Lightning. N.-Y.: Plenum Press, 1980 164-171
Knyazeva E.N., Kurdyumov S.P. Foundations of synergetics. Synergetic worldview. Chapter V.. - Series "Synergetics: from past to future". Ed.2, rev. and additional 2005. 240 p.. - 2005. - 240 p.
P. L. Kapitsa On the nature of ball lightning DAN USSR 1955. Volume 101, No. 2, pp. 245-248.
Kapitsa P. L. On the nature of ball lightning // Experiment. Theory. Practice. - M.: Nauka, 1981. - P. 65-71.
V. G. Shironosov Physical nature of ball lightning Abstracts of the 4th Russian University Academic Scientific Practical Conference, part.7. Izhevsk: Publishing house Udm. University, 1999, p. 58
B.M.Smirnov, Physics Reports, 224 (1993) 151, Smirnov B. M. Physics of ball lightning // UFN, 1990, v. 160. Issue 4. pp.1-45
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Ball lightning is an extremely rare and still not fully understood phenomenon. However, like any other powerful electrical discharge, it poses a threat to life.

What is ball lightning

The nature of this phenomenon has not yet been even half studied. There are many theories and hypotheses that explain this phenomenon, but due to lack of material, it has not yet been possible to confirm any of them.

One of the first written references to ball lightning comes to us from 1638. In an English village, a “ball of fire” burst into a church during a sermon. blue color. The lightning was 2 m in diameter. Eyewitnesses said that the ball destroyed several stone walls of the church, then began to destroy benches, and then split in two - one part flew through the window in an unknown direction, and the second simply disappeared, flying a little more inside the building. As a result of this incident, 4 people died and about 60 were injured.

The unusual shape is not the only feature of ball lightning. It is also characterized by unusual, seemingly conscious behavior. During World War II, pilots different countries claimed that they saw unidentified luminous balls that flew along strange trajectories, sometimes accelerating, sometimes slowing down. There is a known case when three ball lightning attacked a crew member on the deck of a British ship in 1809. When his comrades tried to take the lifeless body, the luminous balls attacked them - fortunately, not fatally, and then flew away.

Eyewitnesses encountered both huge ball lightning with a diameter of 3-4 meters, and tiny balls 5 cm in diameter

There is also more modern evidence - for example, in 2008 in the Kazan region, a glowing blue ball flew into the open window of a trolleybus. The conductor was able to use the validator to push him to the other end of the cabin, where it was empty. Lightning exploded there. All passengers, conductor and driver remained unharmed. Only the trolleybus itself was out of order. And in 2012, such lightning mysteriously appeared in the house of a resident of the Brest region. The woman claims that the doors and windows were locked. Moreover, no one found any traces of damage to all possible entrances. The eyewitness decided not to make sudden movements, and ball lightning smoothly floated over her head and discharged into the wiring. Only the repairs were damaged in this incident - the walls were slightly charred at the discharge site.

One of the most extraordinary explanations for ball lightning is the assumption that such lightning is a living creature. But given the above, this may very well be true.

Despite hundreds of eyewitness accounts (both centuries-old and modern), not all scientists are sure that ball lightning is a real phenomenon. Some are convinced that this phenomenon is just a hallucination. But there are still no clear photographs or videos of ball lightning.

Video: ball lightning

Can ball lightning fly into a house?

Judging by numerous statements, yes, it can. And neither glass (according to evidence, she can pass through it) nor a mosquito net will interfere with her. Moreover, the case in the Brest region proves that sometimes ball lightning can appear in an unknown way inside a room - as if it appears out of thin air. What to do in this case?

The main rule is do not make sudden movements. As history shows, such behavior will put your life at risk - the ball can discharge directly into you, which will end in tears. The movement of ball lightning has not yet been fully studied, but most people are of the opinion that it moves with the help of air currents. Try not to create them - don't wave your arms, don't create drafts. If you are far enough away from the lightning, it is best not to move at all. If it has formed very close to you, try to slowly and smoothly move towards the exit.

Here are some tips from eyewitnesses:

Keep a close eye on ball lightning. This way you can predict the trajectory of its movement;
Avoid proximity to metal objects, sockets and wiring. With a high probability, lightning will be attracted to them;
be patient. Ball lightning usually disappears with a loud bang a few minutes after it appears, so it is better to wait for it to “self-destruct” rather than try to push it away or drive it out.

Rumor has it that some people have been able to forcefully discharge ball lightning by pressing the plug of a household appliance against it. But this method is extremely unreliable and dangerous - do not resort to it.

Ball lightning is a dangerous and little-studied phenomenon. When faced with him, don't do anything stupid and try to act as calmly as possible.

A fireball floating in the air - ball lightning (see photo below), always appears unexpectedly and creates a lot of trouble. But even knowing many eyewitness accounts, some scientists still doubt the existence of this unique natural phenomenon.

Description of the glowing object

Lightning can look different: like a mushroom, a pear or a drop, ranging in size from a few centimeters to 2 meters. The color can be white, orange or blue, and even black, but suddenly change to a different shade before your eyes. See photos of the unusual phenomenon.

If the ball is fire, then its temperature should be assumed to be high, approximately 1000 degrees Celsius, although this fact has not yet been established. Eyewitnesses never felt heat nearby, but when it exploded (which happened extremely rarely), water boiled nearby and metal melted.

A fiery object can move in one direction or change its vector of movement, suddenly hover, and then suddenly take off at a speed of 8-10 m/s. It seems that someone is controlling the ball.

Where it comes from and where it goes

It usually occurs during a severe thunderstorm, but it has also occurred in sunny weather. Therefore, the exact reasons for its occurrence are still unclear. It can form out of nothing and enter a closed room through an outlet or TV. Sometimes it appears from behind a lonely tree.

The nature of the internal state of the ball and the radiation is not clear. If it consists of gas, then it could not hover, but only fly up. And why does energy disappear and then appear again?

There is a version that fiery objects protect ancient buildings. This was evidenced by many researchers, for whom encounters with ball lightning were fatal.

Caution doesn't hurt

Despite the lack of information about the nature of a fireball, a person should behave very carefully near a fiery object. If it suddenly appears in a house or apartment, you should not move suddenly, because when you touch a person, the ball can severely burn and cause cardiac arrest, and destroy everything around (consequences of an encounter with lightning).

You need to behave as usual, calmly, without sudden movements. Do not run, carefully turn in the other direction from the ball, but do not turn your back to it. In the room, carefully open the window so that the lightning flies out into the street with a stream of air. You can protect yourself from it if you act carefully. Look at the pictures - the appearance of the ball in enclosed spaces.

Interesting facts they say that some people, after being struck by ball lightning, acquired super powers. Their “third eye” opens, capable of predicting the future.

Types of fire objects

According to the stories of people who saw ball lightning, they were divided into those that descend from the sky and those that appear near the ground.

The first type is red in color and appears in the clouds. Upon contact with any object, it explodes. Another type forms near the ground and “travels” for a long time, glowing white and attracted to conductors of electricity.

What is ball lightning? In simple terms is a small copy of a thundercloud that appears when a flash of ordinary lightning occurs during a thunderstorm.

Knowing how dangerous this phenomenon is and what to do when it appears, you can get away with only fear. But no one knows for sure where this beautiful but extremely dangerous ball appears during a thunderstorm. Therefore, be careful! And share the information with your friends. See you again on the “Me and the World” website!

The first documentary mentions of ball lightning are found in the chronicles of the Roman Empire.

In Rus', evidence of this phenomenon was a manuscript from 1663, which speaks of a fire that descended to earth, which “rolled” after people fleeing from it, did not burn anything, and eventually rose back to heaven. In legends and myths, ball lightning is represented as a monster with eyes burning with fire.

What does she look like?

Those who have seen ball lightning describe it as a luminous ball that can float through the air in any direction, making a slight crackling sound. The color of the ball can be any - orange, blue, red, white. The appearance of lightning has nothing to do with sources of electrical energy.

Ball lightning can enter a room through a hole smaller than its diameter; sometimes the ball “sticks” to the wires and moves along them. The light flow from lightning is similar to the light flow from an electric lamp. The fireball lives for no more than ten seconds, after which it can explode or suddenly go out.

It is almost impossible to obtain ball lightning in laboratory conditions, and researchers rely mainly on eyewitness accounts in their work. But few of the witnesses could see the very moment of lightning's origin. Scientists believe that ball lightning can occur at a branch point.

Although eyewitnesses often claim that the ball appears from an electrical panel, telephone, or socket. One thing is certain: ball lightning is formed where electrical charges accumulate that cannot be neutralized.

Where does it come from?

There are about four hundred theories that one way or another explain the origin of ball lightning, but so far none of them has received one hundred percent confirmation. Let's focus on the most common one. To understand the principle of the appearance of ball lightning, you need to remember where the formation of ordinary, linear lightning begins.

Due to the high electric field strength, a channel of highly ionized air appears in the cloud. Its tip moves towards the ground in jumps of several tens of meters, changing the direction of movement. This creates a broken electrically conductive channel, and along it, with thunder and glow, the bulk of the charge is transferred from the ground to the cloud.

The vortex component of the electromagnetic field, which is created at the initial point of motion of the charge and at each break in the trajectory, breaks away from common field and begins an independent life.

If there is a lot of energy in this electromagnetic vortex, it ionizes the air to form plasma. This plasma forms an outer shell that traps the electromagnetic vortex. In physics this is called a “soliton,” or “solitary wave.” The conditions for its short existence are nonlinearity and plasma dispersion. It is this soliton that is ball lightning.

What can she do?

Ball lightning, depending on the critical frequency of the plasma shell, can heat the human body, surrounding objects (especially metal ones) and water.

Many witnesses tell how jewelry “evaporated” due to ball lightning, computers and other electrical appliances were damaged. Ball lightning can have a hypnotic effect on humans.

What to do?

If you witness the appearance of ball lightning, do not panic. Move metal objects and electrical appliances away from you, do not make phone calls, turn off the TV. Try not to touch clothes made of synthetic materials.

Slowly approach the window, open the window, and then smoothly move away from the lightning and from the window. If you are wearing synthetics, try not to move. A person struck by ball lightning needs to call an ambulance.

Many of us have heard of such a concept as “ball lightning”. It must be said that few people imagine what this phenomenon is. Not to mention ordinary people, even physicists and chemists still do not know what ball lightning is. Some eyewitnesses described what it looked like, but not everyone was able to “touch” it, so to speak. Of course, every self-respecting astrophysicist tries to convey everything scientific world that he discovered something new, say, unknown planets or galaxies. But here it’s worth coming down to earth, because on our planet there are a lot of unexplored natural phenomena.

What is ball lightning?

Today, official science cannot provide an explanation for what is commonly called ball lightning. Even leading experts in this field do not know what ball lightning looks like and how it is formed.

The point here is that theoretical physicists still cannot agree on a common opinion: is it plasma or electricity. Unfortunately, they know what ball lightning looks like, but no one has been able to “shove” it into a test tube for research.

What's in the movies, what's in real life We can very often observe such specific effects. Not many directors allow themselves to recreate them, much less shoot in real life. As is already clear, this is fraught with unpredictable consequences.

The point of view of official physics

What do teachers who teach physics in schools and applicants for doctoral dissertations tell us? Yes, absolutely nothing. Officially, in the question of what ball lightning looks like, or what effect it can have on a person, only about appearance Much has been said, but not about the nature of the phenomenon itself.

Today it is believed that ball lightning is a plasma clot. True, official science still does not provide an explanation for the fact that such a plasma clot is capable of emitting electricity of millions of volts. It turns out that questions about what ball lightning looks like and how this phenomenon is formed remain unanswered.

Despite all our knowledge accumulated over centuries, we still cannot give a definite answer to the question that interests us. But let's try to approach the concept itself from a slightly different point of view. First, let's look at the dangers of encountering lightning of this type.

What does ball lightning look like and why is it dangerous?

First of all, you need to clearly understand that ball lightning usually looks like a bright ball with light that hurts the eyes, which “floats” above the surface of the earth. Again, physicists do not agree on what ball lightning looks like (the photo will be shown below).

If you come into contact with such a thing, you can either receive a high-voltage shock or burn alive, as evidenced by numerous cases.

But here's what's interesting. Some people have survived such situations and emerged victorious. Now we will not name their names, but official science confirms that a short-term impulse can have a fairly strong impact on the human brain centers. Almost everyone has heard about what ball lightning looks like, but it is precisely by the effects of its active manifestations that only people called psychics can guess. By the way, many of them at one time, if they did not survive an encounter with ball lightning, then certainly received an electric shock. More on this later.

The most common manifestations of ball lightning

In general, on the European part of our continent, the question of what ball lightning looks like, how this object is formed, and what consequences it has, in principle, can not be considered. But climbers say that in high mountain areas the appearance of ball lightning is considered normal.

There is nothing surprising about this. If we consider the topic “Ball lightning: what does it look like?”, it is worth paying attention to those places that are the most dangerous, where it is believed that an encounter with ball lightning is almost guaranteed.

These are the so-called places of tectonic faults. Take the 37-38 parallel. Absolutely all currently known pyramids (Egypt, Mexico, India, etc.) were built along it.

Where is it most often found?

Could it be that ancient humans or aliens protected their buildings or access to certain data in this way?

Ball lightning, as proof of this, was encountered on the path of many explorers, including the discoverers of Tutankhamun’s tomb. As you know, they all died an incomprehensible death in one year. Unfortunately, none of them left any clear diary indicating what ball lightning was. True, they knew what she looked like, but meeting her was considered fatal.

And Egypt is not the only indicator. Almost all places associated with the construction of pyramids or ancient burials are in one way or another associated with the appearance of ball lightning (probably as a regulator of access to some of their functions, about which we, alas, have no idea).

Education process

Now let's dive a little into the area of the process that involves the formation of such a clot of matter.

There is no need to say that this is precisely matter. For those who understand the essence of the issue, we immediately note that ball lightning has mass, which means it is not light expressed in transmission by photons with zero mass. This is not a neutrino. Such particles are capable of penetrating not only the Earth, but each of us every second. What then?

The connection between plasma and electricity

It’s not enough to talk about what ball lightning looks like; you need to know the root causes of its physical occurrence. As is commonly believed, a plasma formation in the form of ball lightning carries a charge of static electricity, which can be transformed into a dynamic component and transmitted over a distance even under direct physical contact. If we consider the question of what ball lightning looks like (see photo of a conventional discharge below), it is worth noting the relationship between these two phenomena.

The founder of almost all theory and practice of using electric current and transmitting it to any distance without wires is believed by a brilliant physicist named Nikola Tesla.

It was he who conducted the first experiments on creating the same ball lightning in a local version. Unfortunately, all these developments are deeply classified by US intelligence agencies.

Why should you be wary of such formations?

Surprisingly, you need to be very careful with forms like ball lightning. The fact is that the electric discharge following touching such a substance produces a completely inadequate effect on the human body.

Some believe that people who have experienced a shock from ball lightning have the so-called third eye opened, where the individual can predict and predict future events. Here it is worth paying attention to Holy Scripture. It contains clear indications that these are the machinations of the devil. How true this is, we will not go into now, however, even many researchers paranormal phenomena tend to believe that the question of what ball lightning looks like and what this phenomenon is, note the fact that this phenomenon has simply not been studied, not to mention whether it is a divine or truly diabolical force.

Effect on the human body and brain

Unfortunately, our body is influenced by many factors. Who hasn't heard about the full moon, when dark forces in the form of vampires or werewolves are on the move?

Yes, indeed, the Earth’s satellite is capable of exerting a fairly large influence on a person, but certainly no one thinks about the fact that almost the same effect can be obtained when ball lightning appears (this in most cases happens much faster, and in people exposed to influenced by outside forces or believed to have psychic abilities).

What does ball lightning look like in a house? And how to behave correctly when it appears?

Now we come to one of the most pressing issues. If such a formation in the form of a ball or hemisphere flies into the house, first of all, you need not to move, since ball lightning reacts precisely to movement, and it is not always clear why.

Some professionals who are experts in detailed phenomena recommend lying on the floor and not standing upright. It is believed that in this case the ball can simply fly from above without affecting a person, since it itself does not cause air vibrations, thereby creating an area of low pressure where ball lightning can move initially.

In general, this is not an isolated case. It is only worth noting that almost any person who encounters such a unique natural phenomenon as ball lightning is exposed to a certain risk, not to mention death.

Nevertheless, one can cite quite a lot of examples when people even experienced contact with such a “touchy” thing as a physical substance in the form of ball lightning, and after that they received superpowers that were not characteristic of ordinary people at birth. It is believed that some electromagnetic pulses transmitted in the form of the impact of ball lightning may be responsible for this process in the transformation of DNA (the main chain of genes at birth). In addition, it is possible that some encoded information may be hidden here, hidden from prying eyes.

Conclusion

So, in fact, we briefly reviewed the main topic “Ball lightning: what does this phenomenon look like?” As is already clear, there is still no consensus even among scientists about the explanation of this unique phenomenon. One can only guess what is actually hidden behind it.