Natural and Artificial Ball Lightning in the Earth’s Atmosphere

Preface
Contents
1 Long-Lived Luminous Formations (LLO), Ball Lightning (BL), and Their Researches
1.1 A Bit of History
1.1.1 Collection and Analysis of Observational Data on BL in Russia
1.2 Conclusion to the Chapter
References
2 Observation Data on BL Events
2.1 BL Energy
2.2 The Appearance of BL
2.3 External Features of the BL
2.3.1 Size, Color, and Shape of the BL
2.3.2 Complex Structures
2.3.3 BL in the Form of a Thread or a Harness
2.4 Electrical Manifestations of BL
2.5 Interaction of BL with Various Objects
2.5.1 Interaction of the BL with the Tree
2.6 Interaction of BL with Glass
2.7 Injuries and Death of Observers and Animals When Exposed to BL
2.8 Moving Objects When Exposed to BL
2.9 BL Meeting with Airplanes
2.9.1 BL and the Sea
2.10 BL and Geotectonic Events
2.10.1 Luminous Formations Generated by Geotectonic Activity
2.10.2 BL in Japan
2.10.3 Artifacts and Various Traces of BL
2.10.4 Geophysical Phenomena and BL
2.10.5 Luminous Objects of Hessdalen
2.10.6 Local Heating of Objects
2.10.7 Gelly-Like Meteors and Similar Phenomena
2.10.8 Photos and Videos with BL
2.10.9 On Phosphenes Formed as a Result of Energy Radiation from Linear Lightning Flashes
References
3 Analysis of Observations
3.1 Data Collection
3.2 Analysis of Observations by the Simplest Methods
3.2.1 Parameters
3.2.2 Lifetime
3.2.3 Equivalent Electrical Power of Radiation
3.2.4 Color
3.2.5 Geography of Observations
3.3 Application of Modern Methods of Statistical Analysis of BL
3.3.1 Statistical Studies of BL Color
3.3.2 Analysis of Variance. Data Processing Procedure
3.3.3 The Results of the Analysis of Variance for the BL Color Factor
3.3.4 Correlation Analysis of BL Color Distributions
3.3.5 Factors Affecting the Observed Parameters of the BL
References
4 Experimental Modeling of BL and LLO
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Early Experiments of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries on the Purposeful Creation of BL
4.3 High-Frequency Discharges in the Air
4.4 Experiments on BL Obtaining Under Electric Discharge Conditions
4.5 Plasmodynamic Formation of BL and LLO
4.6 Erosive Discharge
4.6.1 Pulsed Electric Discharge in a Channel with Evaporating Walls
4.6.2 Characteristics of Capillary Plasmatron Plasma Jets
4.6.3 Experiments with Erosive Discharge with a Capillary Made of Wax
4.6.4 Experiments with Erosive Discharge with a Capillary from PMMA
4.6.5 Experiments with Polymer Materials
4.6.6 Production of Glowing Spheres
4.6.7 Obtaining of Fireballs with a Polymer Structure
4.6.8 Experiments on the Interaction of an Erosive Discharge Jet with a Metal Sample
4.6.9 Experiments on Erosion Discharge from a Slit
4.6.10 Experiments on the Interaction of an Erosion Discharge Jet with Substances
4.7 Electric Discharges in Liquid
4.7.1 Experiments (Klimov et al. 1994, 2006; Dimitrov et al. 1994; Kirko et al. 2014) Devoted to the Appearance of LLO in Cryogenic Liquids
4.8 Experiments on Modeling of BL Features
4.8.1 Corona Discharge for Modeling
4.8.2 Levitation of Corona-Forming Spheres
4.8.3 Experimental Modeling of BL Interaction with Glasses
References
5 About Theoretical Hypotheses of BL
5.1 New BL Hypotheses
5.2 High-Energy BL Hypotheses
5.2.1 Dipole Force (Nikitin 2006)
5.2.2 Electric Field of a Highly Charged BL (Bychkov et al. 2020)
5.2.3 The Lifetime of the Charged Ball Relative to Neutralization by Air Ions
5.2.4 High Energy Electrodynamic BL (Nikitin 2006), (Nikitin et al. 2018a, b)
5.3 Chemical-Thermal Model (Bychkov and Abakumov 2018)
5.4 Ball Lightning as the Formation of a Physical Vacuum (Zaitsev and Bychkov 2021)
5.5 Conclusion
References
Conclusion
Index