All information about the so-called "ball lightning" is based on eyewitness accounts of this extraordinary phenomenon. Various versions of his description differ greatly from one another. But if we discard all fantasies and try to select only plausible facts, we can get the following picture of what is happening, close to reality.
How do eyewitnesses describe this phenomenon?
According to the statements of most eyewitnesses, purely outwardly ball lightning is a small luminous "fiery" formation.
This phenomenon is most often observed during a thunderstorm in the form of a ball hanging above the earth with a diameter of no more than half a meter with a discharge "corona" extending from it (photo above). Some witnesses talk about spherical formations about 2-3 meters in size, which looks more like an exaggeration than a truth.
The fireball does not stand still, but moves along an unpredictable trajectory and sometimes it seems as if it is chasing an eyewitness or other moving objects. The lifetime of this phenomenon is no more than tens of seconds (cases were noted when it lasted up to several minutes). Direct contact with such a ball is dangerous for living beings and humans. It is not uncommon for people to be seriously injured or even killed after touching it. As an example, a well-known case that occurred in St. Petersburg in the 18th century is given. Then the Russian scientist Georg Richman died from the discharge of ball lightning.
What scientists say about this
Today the phenomenon called "ball lightning" has no definitive scientific explanation. Due to the rarity of this phenomenon and the impossibility of fixing it for a long time, scientists are unable to formulate what it is. On the other hand, there are many different theories that try to somehow explain the nature of this unusual phenomenon. Some scientists even have doubts about its reality exactly in the form described by eyewitnesses (photo below).
Versions and hypotheses
Among scientists who have repeatedly tried to explain the essence of the phenomenon, Academician P. L. Kapitsa. According to the theory he proposed, the observed fireball is nothing more than a standing e / m wave formed by vibrations reflected from the ground. In their antinodes there are all the conditions necessary to maintain an ionized medium in an active state, or in other words, ball lightning.
The theory deserves the greatest attention, according to which the phenomenon under consideration is a kind of plasma formation. It occurs as a result of the impact of an ordinary thunderstorm lightning, which is confirmed in practice (observations
showed that ball lightning appears immediately after the onset of a thunderstorm). The problem is that plasma processes are characterized by short intervals (on the order of fractions of a second). Most scientists do not really understand why ball lightning as a plasma stably exists for a relatively long time.