Ball Lightning Experiments

posted: 11 May 2002

last updated:30 March 2003

All informations in this page are published free and are intended for private/educational purposes and not for commercial applications .

Ball Lightning in the Microwave

This is a great experiment to try at home. It requires a microwave oven, a candle, a toothpick and a lighter. First you put the candle (~1-2 inches in heigth) in the micorwave (remove glass plate on bottom so candle sits on metal). Put the tooth pick in the candle sticking straight up. Light the tooth pick on fire so that flames are leaping off the tip. Shut the door quickly and turn on oven full blast. There will be loud popping noises and then balls of fire will leap from the toothpock and fly around inside the microwave while making a buzzing sound like a bee. If it doesn't work at first try moving the position of the candle. You have to find the "hot spot" in the oven for it to work.

Download Video of MicroWave Ball lightning

I believe there are many different forms of the luminous plasmiods commonly knows as ball lightning. There are atleast three different types I know of, and only one of which I believe is actually associated with a lightning strike. (See below for 'Real Ball Lightning') A second type is shown above, where a plasmiod is formed in a microwave oven. This type is not formed in nature (under normal conditions #) since it requires 1000 Watts of microwave power to sustain the plasma discharge. There is a theorem call the 'virial theorem' which 'proves' that a self contained, stable, plasmiod type discharge can not be be contained by its own fields (i.e. your just can't have a large circulating current loop in air and expect it to exist for very long. The magentic field will exhert a 'presure' on the loop which will cause it to be ripped apart in a very short time). The theorem is based on a few assumptions that most agree on, such of conservation of energy, the valitidy of Maxwells equtions. [see 'The Nature of Ball Lighting', by Stanly Singer]. There is an air pressure which could (theoretically) balance some of these forces but puts a very low limit on the energy density stored in ball lightning to a level much lower than observed ['Ball Lightning', David Finkelstein, Julio Rubinstein, Phys. Rev. vol 111, 20 Jul, 1964]. The third type of plasmoid that I know of is produced by a burning of a flamible gass (a low density hydro-carbon such as methane) in air [p 173, 'Ball lightning and Bead Lightning' by James Barry] and [ 'Experimental Research on Ball Lighting', by Y. H. Ohtsuki, IL Nuovo Cimento, Vol 13, p761-768, Luglio-Augosto 1990] This phenomenon is also not associted with lightning strikes.

# Although there are no 'known' natural source of high power microwave, there have been reported occurance of this type of ball lightning forming in association of UFO sightings. I believe this is due to the Elecromagnetic RF field produced by thier propulsion systems. (I'll post reference when I locate them again.)

Real Ball Lightning Generated by Pulsed Power Inductor

This experiment is very DANGEROUS. I did this one a few years ago. I got the Idea from an article I read about a guy generating ball lightning using a high current transformer ['Laboratory-Produced Ball Lightning', by Robert K. Golka Jr., Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 99 p 10,679-10681, May 20, 1994]. Since a transformer is limited to the given amount of energy per cycle, I had an idea of using an inductor to store large amounts of electrical energy. An inductor is not limited to a given amount of energy, so it can store up a tremendous amount of energy over several cycles. It is also capable of releasing this energy in an instant. The third benifit to using a (huge) inductor, is that the voltage will always rise to the occation. What ever voltage you need, the inducator will provide. Now, How did I produce these free roaming balls of fire? (I plan to post the circuit I used in the near future). The procedure: The conductor on the end of the stick is touched to the metal ring. This completes the circuit, and start the inductor charging. Then I use the air compressos nozel to blow out the arc as I pull the wire away. The copper wire explodes and creates rapidly rotating and burning molten balls of copper... burning! These 'Balls of Fire' exhibit many of the properties of real ball lightning. (I will explain later why this is so interesting.)

Ball Lightning Update (31 Jan 03)

Is this a picture of the the crab nebula??? No it is a picture of experimentally generated ball lightning. I was recently asked, if this was a 'real' experiment. That a teacher told them it was not (possible???). The answer is, of course it is real and also possible*. I actually have many hours of footage of ball lightning (like) discharges I have produced. I am not the first to produce artificial ball lightning, it has been done many times before using Submarine batteries[146,147 Barry], electrical generators [p 106,107 Barry], and high current transformers [Golka], to name a few. Anyway, this picture above is of a ball lightning (probably about 0.5-1.0 cm in diameter.) as it bounces across a sheet of paper. The bright center is the actual ball lightning and the hazy aura around the periphery is reflected light from the paper. This little bugger is really moving fast as it zooms by.

* (This is a common mistake made in academia. Sometimes after people have gone through too many years of schooling they begin to believe they know EVERYTHING, and start to make 'Expert Opinions' in areas they are not really an expert in. )

Above is the tracks left by my ball lightning as it bounced across a paper on my desk here (The arrow indicated the direction it was traveling. I have circled the region of interest, so there is no confusion). These are nice oval burn marks and if you watch my new video clip, you can see the smoke it leaves behind. The largest spot is the first place it hit the paper. These are all characteristics that witness of ball lightning have reported. I believe that the reason ball lightning has not be given the attention it deserves is because it is considered to be a 'fringe' science#. Yet Ball lightning and other strange phenomenon will continue to exist, no matter how much the 'skeptics' close their eyes and practice their dis(belief). Below is a new video of ball lightning bouncing across my desk. By the way these little things are really hot. You never know exactly where they're going to go when they shoot from the electrical contact. I had some land on the carpet, and they burn little holes in it. One landed on my foot one time, that kinda woke me up... That's why I have that wood box type thing there, to contain the balls of fire from shooting all over the place. (In the video below, the camera auto dims when the discharge is formed, because it is so very bright.) I recommend wearing welding goggles when doing this one.

# The 'scientific community' seems to think they have license to 'Chooses to Ignore' any experimental evidence (or any other evidence for that matter) just because it does not support there favorite (or only) view of the world, based solely on their predetermined notions of 'how things are'. This is called entrenchment and is actually the antithesis of science, which is the quest for truth and knowledge.

Download Video of REAL Ball lightning(~1Meg)

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