How Are Lightning Balls Formed?

Knowledge

• The existence of ball lightning is based on public sightings, but it is unpredictable and scarce. The actual cause of ball lightning is still something of a mystery. Scientists previously thought ball lightning was a hoax because of the inconsistency of sighting details, but laboratory experiments have created forms of ball lightning.

University of Canterbury Tests

• Recent scientific studies have recreated ball lightning in labs. Scientists create a silicon combustion, and the reaction creates ball lightning. Abrahamson and Dinnis have shocked silicon with electrodes to create orbs that have lasted five to eight seconds. The lab tests produced balls that are similar to the size and life of natural ball lightning.

Canterbury Theory

• John Abrahamson and James Dinnis from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand propose that ball lightning occurs when lightning strikes silicon-rich earth. The silicon is vaporized. As silicon vapor combines with oxygen, it burns. Abrahamson states that aluminum and iron may also cause ball lightning, and lightning may not be the only source of energy. Atmospheric discharge and friction from earthquakes may also cause vaporization.

Microwaves

• At the University of Tel Aviv in Israel, Eli Jerby and Vladimir Dikhtyar used a microwave drill to produce a form of ball lightning in a laboratory. Microwave beams are pointed through solid glass, silicon and iron objects. The drill causes molten hot spots, and the column of fire forms into a floating ball of energy. These tests created 1-inch balls that lasted only 10 milliseconds. The lab tests confirm the existence of ball lightning and the theory that it results from hot spots.