Dynamical self-organization acting as physical basis of the ball lightning phenomenon

TL;DR

This paper explores the physical basis of ball lightning, highlighting recent laboratory experiments that produce floating plasma globes, advancing understanding of this rare atmospheric phenomenon.

Contribution

It introduces a new physical model based on dynamical self-organization and discusses recent laboratory methods to generate ball lightning-like plasmoids.

Findings

Laboratory experiments can produce floating plasma globes with extended lifetimes.

Different plasma devices can generate phenomena resembling natural ball lightning.

The study links experimental plasma globes to natural ball lightning phenomena.

Abstract

Lightning balls are very rare natural phenomena that appear as free floating glowing globs, usually during electric activity in the atmosphere of the Earth. Each year, hundreds of eyewitness accounts of such strange events are reported to local journals, police and even military authorities. In spite of the fact that the presence of beautifully colored flaming globs bearing strong resemblances to lightning balls was reported in a great numbers of published papers, these experimental results considered up yet were not able to offer information to explain the actual origin of the ball lightning. This is due to its appearance in very rare gases and the relatively small energy involved in its emergence. This state of the art was changed in the last time by new laboratory experiments showing that by very quick local injection of energy it is possible to produce in air, under controllable laboratory conditions, free floating flaming globs, the lifetime of which substantially surpasses the time span in which they emerged. Today the flaming globes that appear in plasmas that transport direct current are dubbed fireballs, whereas those which appear in plasma created by high frequency electric fields, plasmoids. In the following we will describe some of these experimental results but also other ones obtained in different devices were plasma is present.