Chinese Scientists Observe Ball Lightning In Nature For The First Time Ever
40 replies, posted
[quote]
For centuries, people have reported seeing luminous, spherical orbs during storms — a phenomenon known as “ball lightning”. According to eyewitness reports they last for several seconds, moving through the air before eventually exploding.
But meteorologists have always regarded such reports with suspicion, as they’d never been able to observe the phenomenon themselves. Inconsistencies in public reports led those studying these cases starting to think of them like UFO sightings — merely hallucinations, perhaps caused by electromagnetic effects.
Now, however, following years of attempts to replicate ball lightning in the lab, Chinese researchers have finally recorded it in the field.
Jianyong Cen, Ping Yuan, and Simin Xue were using spectrographs and video cameras to observe a thunderstorm near Qinghai in China’s desolate western provinces when they saw something they weren’t expecting.
After a bolt of lightning hit the ground, a glowing ball about five metres wide rose up and travelled about 15 metres, before disappearing about 1.6 seconds later.
Stunned, the researchers packed up their kit and headed back to their lab, where they discovered that the elements in the ball were the same as those in the local soil — silicon, iron and calcium. They published their results in the journal Physical Review Letters.[/quote]
[url]https://medium.com/looking-up/b594b6ffea37[/url]
[quote]
That is what Ping Yuan and co-workers from Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou, China, now report. They had set up spectrometers on the remote Qinghai Plateau of northwest China to investigate ordinary lightning, which is frequent in this region. During one late-evening thunderstorm in July 2012, they saw ball lightning appear just after a lightning strike about 900 meters from their apparatus and were able to record a spectrum and high-speed video footage of the ball.
The recorded glow was about 5 meters across—the actual size of the ball was much smaller—and it changed from white to reddish during the second or so that it lasted. Although the darkness prevented the researchers from estimating the ball’s altitude, they saw it drift horizontally for about 10 meters and ascend about 3 meters. Yuan says that this is the first time ball lightning has been seen to be created by a cloud-to-ground lightning strike.
The researchers found that the spectrum contained several emission lines from silicon, iron, and calcium—all elements expected to be abundant in soil. One would also expect aluminum to be present, given its abundance in soil minerals. But the researchers couldn’t confirm that, as there are no emission lines of neutral aluminum atoms within the spectral range of their instrument (wavelengths of 400–1000 nanometers). The team also used their video data to plot the ball lightning’s intensity and apparent diameter as they varied in time, down to the millisecond time-scale.
“I think that this is a unique observation that is probably of ball lightning, or one type of ball lightning,” says lightning specialist Martin Uman of the University of Florida in Gainesville. “There have been many research programs that routinely video or photograph natural and triggered lightning,” he says, “but none, as far as I am aware, has stumbled on a ball lightning.”[/quote]
[url]http://physics.aps.org/articles/v7/5[/url]
No way! This is a setup by the Chinese to Invade America!
Ball lightning is both cool and freaky as shit.
My 3rd, 7th, & 9th grade teachers can suck it ball lightning exists.
[QUOTE]–Philip Ball[/QUOTE]
[I]heh[/I]
Dragon Balls
Now i know what to catch during storm
[QUOTE=Medevila;43603404]don't quite understand how this is relevant even as humor[/QUOTE]
Rifles that shoot lightning balls.
Make it happen china.
[QUOTE=adam1172;43603501]Rifles that shoot lightning balls.
Make it happen china.[/QUOTE]
Knowing China they'd probably blow up in their faces because they're made of super cheap materials
[QUOTE=d00msdaydan;43603510]Knowing China they'd probably blow up in their faces because they're made of super cheap materials[/QUOTE]
HA HA SO FUNNY YOU'RE RIGHT THOSE DAMNED GOOKS MAKING SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS WHEN THEY CAN'T EVEN PRODUCE TOP TIER OUTSOURCED MCDONALDS TOYS HA HA STUPID CHINESE HA
Finally.
My physics teachers never believed me when I told them I had witnessed ball-lightning, seeing as it didn't exist/couldn't occur according to them.
[QUOTE=Rixxz2;43603665]Finally.
My physics teachers never believed me when I told them I had witnessed ball-lightning, seeing as it didn't exist/couldn't occur according to them.[/QUOTE]
Well it's a super rare phenomenon in either case, so I wouldn't believe you either.
woah i learned about and was reading up on ball lightning like 3 days ago
My grandma told me about ball lighting once, said that it went down the chimney of houses and started chased people. I've always thought she may have exaggerated a bit :v:
[QUOTE=Swebonny;43603943]My grandma told me about ball lighting once, said that it went down the chimney of houses and started chased people. I've always thought she may have exaggerated a bit :v:[/QUOTE]
Funnily enough, my grandma told a similar story, but instead the ball hit a frying pan and melted a hole through it.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;43603943]My grandma told me about ball lighting once, said that it went down the chimney of houses and started chased people. I've always thought she may have exaggerated a bit :v:[/QUOTE]
Is your grandma tintin?
[QUOTE=can man;43604117]Is your grandma tintin?[/QUOTE]
Please dont joke about that, the mummy gave me nightmares all throughout childhood q.q
Fascinating, I wonder if charge distribution is what gives it its spherical shape (Equal distribution like a Van Graff Generator Head)
[B]EDIT:[/B]
Rating dumb to a scientific hypothesis is a very rigid way of thinking, rate disagree and give your rationale to why you disagree with me.
[QUOTE=Mitchel.;43603086]Dragon Balls
Now i know what to catch during storm[/QUOTE]
I love you for this post
[QUOTE=can man;43604117]Is your grandma tintin?[/QUOTE]
specific reference:
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eIdXxXHRTC8/T2B873eMXiI/AAAAAAAAA9o/VSgKKXICQdU/s640/12_Tintin%2Band%2Bthe%2BSeven%2BCrystal%2BBalls%2B(dragged)%2B2-page-001.jpg[/img]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXm3zDM_v80[/media]
This is slightly less impressive than what I expected.
And a lot more confusing.
[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;43605709]specific reference:
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eIdXxXHRTC8/T2B873eMXiI/AAAAAAAAA9o/VSgKKXICQdU/s640/12_Tintin%2Band%2Bthe%2BSeven%2BCrystal%2BBalls%2B(dragged)%2B2-page-001.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
Wath the fuck, I need to speak with my granny.
[QUOTE=JgcxCub;43603396][img]Poltergeist.jpg[/img]
??[/QUOTE]
That's not even close, you're thinking of a tesla anomaly, which for some odd reason i can't find an image of.
[QUOTE=innerfire34;43603627]HA HA SO FUNNY YOU'RE RIGHT THOSE DAMNED GOOKS MAKING SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS WHEN THEY CAN'T EVEN PRODUCE TOP TIER OUTSOURCED MCDONALDS TOYS HA HA STUPID CHINESE HA[/QUOTE]
Hate to say it, but 'Gook' is their derogatory term for the Vietnamese. You're looking for 'chink'! Seriously though, can we make Unreal Tournament esque shock rifles
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;43604465]Fascinating, I wonder if charge distribution is what gives it its spherical shape (Equal distribution like a Van Graff Generator Head)
[B]EDIT:[/B]
Rating dumb to a scientific hypothesis is a very rigid way of thinking, rate disagree and give your rationale to why you disagree with me.[/QUOTE]
i assumed myself that it was more so the distribution of the differing densities of the elements turned into plasma. but now that you say it, maybe its a combination of both, where the orb through the excited movements of the silicate along with whatever charge gained from the lightning strike created an electromagnetic field strong enough for it to keep the orb form for a couple seconds before dispersing.
i mean.... them lights look purty like an angel.
[QUOTE=adam1172;43603501]Rifles that shoot lightning balls.
Make it happen china.[/QUOTE]
We could have blasters! Ball Lightning Amplification by STimulated Emission of ... erm, Rainclouds, maybe? I don't know, I'm bad at backronyms.
But seriously, if these are effected by magnetic fields, plonk it in a coil gun.
[QUOTE=innerfire34;43603627]HA HA SO FUNNY YOU'RE RIGHT THOSE DAMNED GOOKS MAKING SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS WHEN THEY CAN'T EVEN PRODUCE TOP TIER OUTSOURCED MCDONALDS TOYS HA HA STUPID CHINESE HA[/QUOTE]
RACIALLY INSENSITIVE TERMINOLOGY 101
Chinese people are chinks. People from South East Asia, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan are considered gooks.
I learned new things about both science and racial epithets.
Internet, you are a strange beast, but I can't do without you.
This is awesome. My dad and I saw what we believed was this in the woods by my house before.
[QUOTE=TheKingofBees;43608619]i assumed myself that it was more so the distribution of the differing densities of the elements turned into plasma. but now that you say it, maybe its a combination of both, where the orb through the excited movements of the silicate along with whatever charge gained from the lightning strike created an electromagnetic field strong enough for it to keep the orb form for a couple seconds before dispersing.
i mean.... them lights look purty like an angel.[/QUOTE]
I agree, it may be a combination of both, if the silica is heated to be ionized, you'd think it also expand like a gas away from its point of origin, with the charges being pushed outwards as well.
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