Mystery of Ball Lightning Solved?

Greetings, ATS!

I've never been fortunate enough to witness ball lightning-- which is an extremely rare phenomena that can last up to 20 seconds. Now, Australian scientists believe they may have found the cause for the mysterious ball lightning.

According to Discovery News, ball lightning can form around windows and in the cockpit of airplanes; it then travels through the house or plane and can cause some hair-raising responses from witnesses.

So what causes ball lightning? Well, the scientists had this to say:

owke's theory, is that some of these ions can accumulate on the outside of non-conducting surfaces such as a window. "These ions pile up and produce an electrical field which penetrate the glass," he says. Lowke says the field gives free electrons on the inside of the window enough energy to knock off electrons from surrounding air molecules, as well as release photons, creating a glowing ball.

The study is far from conclusive, despite the title of the article; the scientists have yet to reproduce the effect in a laboratory setting. The study also does not explain the report of loud bangs that accompany some reports of ball lightning.

So my question to you, ATS...have you ever seen ball lightning, or experienced something similar? I haven't seen ball lightning, but I will never forget the phone ringing during a bad electrical storm. This was back in the day...when cordless phones were still a pipe dream (that tells you how old I am). I picked up the phone like an idiot and all my hair stood on end. Which was crappy, because I was in eighth grade and spent an hour on my hair, only to have that happen. Anyway, I'd love to hear your stories.

I actually have. I was very young at the time. My dad was framing-out the basement of our new house. I was down there with him playing and he was framing around a soil pipe (the big, black cast iron pipe that brings waste-water out of the house). I looked up at the basement casement window and saw a grapefruit-sized pastel colored ball of light floating down to the basement floor just several feet from me. I recall it looking something like translucent cotton candy. The ball drifted down to the concrete basement floor and then 'rolled' toward the soil pipe. My dad had moved over to his table saw. The ball rolled increasingly quickly as it got closer to the pipe. Then it touched the pipe and vanished.

Never forgot that experience. It was so weird. And especially so because your article mentions it forming around windows.

I never had the chance to see such event. But I can imagine that its,scary and amazing at the same time.

I once heard this story from people where I was at work, that at some point back in time. They had this experience that this ball lightning passed through their roof and came to a complete stop right above the living room table.
Several witnesses were at hand at that time.

The ball disappeared via the chimney and all were stunned by this.. I asked the son of this women where I worked and he ashamed nodded yes that happened.. But I could notice that he don't wanted to talk about it.

Some times it almost looks if this ball lightning has an awareness and control over their own?

Interesting. If the maths are correct, then they should be able to replicate it in laboratory conditions, right? That is to say in small scale?

"This is the first paper which gives a mathematical solution explaining the birth or initiation of ball lighting," says Lowke.

He says the next step is to use the theory to replicate ball lightning in the laboratory. That may still prove difficult, as it would require equipment capable of producing 100 million volts.

Interesting that a majority of historic reports are sightings in churches, boats and planes...? Then there are occasions where it happened under completely different circumstances such as the Georg Richmann incident. Pretty tough to get scientific explanation for something that is so rare. (Yet they refuse to believe in UFOs and Bigfoot... )

Cool stuff.

I'v never got to see ball lightening unfortunately, but about 10 years ago I was out in a desert and got to see an electrical storm. The lightening was just rolling across the sky non-stop for 30-45 minutes. It was really cool. Lightening is always fun to watch. Maybe I'll luck put one day and get to see the ball variety.

reply to post by smyleegrl

The one and only ball lightning i saw was last year .
It came out of the side of a cloud then dropped
down and vanished just before the roof tops.
Not that i could tell how big it was but im sure
it was bigger than a ball .
And the cloud was strange to say the least
many different colours.

A lot of strange stuff happens over the backs
towards airbus chester.

on a side note how are you doing smyleegrl hope your feeling better

ok,i'll tell you what happened to me.
you'll have to forgive me,as i'm not that much of a story teller,
so i'll break it down for time sake.
in my dining room there is a sliding glass patio door going outside to the deck on the back of the house.
i have an open concept house,and the living room is right next to the dining room.
on a table next to the couch,i have an aquarium with a bearded dragon (lizard!)
in it,and all the uv/heat lamps for him.
any wat,stage is set. on with the story!
i was sitting on the couch watching a movie,sitting next to brigid,my lizard.
i noticed a flash of light in the patio door,so i looked over.
by the time i looked,there was a bluish/purpleish orb of glowing light
hovering just below the ceiling light in the dining room.
by the time i noticed this,the dining room light blew out,then the ball 'o' light sped right over to the light on the lizard tank,
and 'boom'!!!
lights out on the lizard!!!
my girlfriend was in the dining room,and looked at me with amazment,and said
"did you see that!?"
'hell ya!' i replied. it scared me!!!
the lizard light didn't break,but it cracked. and yes,the lizard was ok!



i don't know exactly what happened,ball lightning or whatever,but both me and my girlfriend witnessed it.
the whole episode lasted 5 seconds at the most,but is 5 seconds we won't forget soon!
hope you enjoyed my story!
peace