Tag: Ball Lightning

Book Review: ‘Ball Lightning’ by Cixin Liu.

I was quite young when I first heard about the mysterious phenomenon known as ‘Ball Lightning’ and I remember thinking that was the craziest idea I’d ever heard of. After all everybody knew that similar electrical charges repel each other, and when you get a build up of positive or negative charges the force pushing them apart is so great that it causes the burst of energy we call lightning. The notion of a stable build up of charges that could last for several minutes in a small volume of space just made no sense.

A rare sight to see, ball lightning is usually observed during a strong normal lightning storm (Credit: Nautilus / Science Connected)

Since that time I’ve learned a lot more about electro-magnetism, about resonate cavities, about plasmas, about the weird world of Quantum Electro-Dynamics (QED) and I still think ball lightning is hard to accept. Most scientists seem to agree with me because there are dozens of very different theories about the nature of ball lightning. Everyone of these hypotheses have some problems explaining all the observations of ball lightning and none of them have gained anything like a consensus of support.

Phenomenon similar to Ball Lightning have been created in a labouratory but are they the exact same thing? (Credit: CNET.com)

For those who aren’t familiar with the rare and unpredictable sightings of ball lightning the phenomenon is usually, but not always observed during a fierce lightning storm. The ball itself can vary from a few centimeters to a few meters in diameter, the shape is normally spherical or pear shaped, hence the name, but a few observations of a ring like structure have been made. The ball glows fairly brightly like a household electric lamp with any colour in the spectrum but red and yellow predominate.

The movements of ball lightning tend to be horizontal at a steady velocity around 10 meters per second although some have been seen to remain motionless. Very strangely ball lightning has occasionally been observed in the interior of aircraft that are moving at hundreds of kilometers per hour. Despite the plane’s speed however the ball moves through the cabin at a relative speed consistent with observations made on the ground! Finally ball lightning can either dissipate quietly or explosively, it has even been the cause of several deaths.

A 19th Century Newspaper illustration of an observation of ball lightning. (Credit: National Geographic)

So I suppose it’s about time some science fiction writer got around to using ball lightning as the focus for an SF novel. Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu has done so and his novel ‘Ball Lightning’ is a daring and imaginative story that starts as a scientific study about the nature of ball lighting and leads to the development of ball lightning weapons. Readers of this blog might recognize Cixin Liu as the author of the ‘Three Body Problem’ trilogy and ‘Ball Lightning’ is a similar wild ride.

Cover of ‘Ball Lightning’ by Cixin Lui. (Credit: Amazon.com)

Liu assumes one of the more outlandish theories about the nature of ball lightning as his starting point and takes off from there. Before long Liu is describing quantum phenomenon that are observable in the macroscopic world, even using the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat to question whether or not someone who is killed by ball lightning is alive or dead, or in an indeterminate quantum state.

Cixin Liu is also the Author of the ‘Three Body Problem’ trilogy. (Credit: Tor.com)

I do have a slight criticism, in the novel China goes to war but their adversary in the war is never named. However the USS Stennis, an American Guided Missile Destroyer, is explicitly named as one of the ships attacking the Chinese fleet. Now if you’re going to name your enemy’s warships you may just as well go ahead and name your enemy. In fact Liu’s descriptions of battle in general could use a little more blood and thunder. I have the feeling Liu is a pacifist who would rather not talk about fighting at all. Wouldn’t it be nice if he didn’t have to?

‘Ball Lightning’ is now the fourth novel by Cixin Liu that I have reviewed, all of them thought provoking and wildly creative. I’m certainly looking forward to reading his next novel ‘Supernova Era’ and when I do you can be certain to read about it here at Science and Science Fiction. 

‘Supernova Era’ is the latest novel by Cixin Liu. (Credit: Amazon.com)

Ball Lightning: The Mysterious Phenomenon that has produced more Theories than detailed Observations.

Descriptions of the strange, almost unearthly phenomenon known today as Ball Lightning date back as far as Aristotle. However the recorded incidents of ball lightning have been so infrequent, and the behavior of the phenomenon so varied, even contradictory that up until the mid-twentieth century many if not most scientists regarded ball lightning to be an imaginary rather than a real physical event. The image below shows an illustration of a nineteenth century occurrence of ball lightning.

19th Century Illustration of Ball Lightning (Credit: Public Domain)

It is true that ball lightning can range in size from less than a centimeter to as much as a meter in diameter. The colour of ball lightning can also vary tremendously although red, orange and yellow predominate. The movement of ball lightning is generally horizontal but they have been known to move up or down or even remain motionless. They can even appear right out of walls or other solid objects.

Perhaps the greatest variance in the different observations of ball lightning however is in the way they dissipate. Sometimes they can just disappear like a light bulb that’s turned off while sometimes they disappear by passing into walls or other solid objects. And then sometimes they can explode doing considerable damage and even death. The image below shows of modern photograph of ball lightning.

Photograph of Ball Lightning (Credit: Miyuki Ishikawa)

 

About the only things that all the different reported incidents agree upon is that ball lightning usually occurs during a thunderstorm and normally right after ordinary cloud to ground lightning bolt has struck nearby. Over the last century however reports of ball lightning have also been connected with heavy electrical equipment like generators and there are even reports of ball lightning occurring in submarines during World War II went the sub was switching from its diesel engines to battery power.

Theories about the nature of ball lightning abound and over the last 50 years scientists have even succeeded in produced ball lightning-like objects in the labouratory. Despite these successes there are arguments as to whether those labouratory creations are the ‘real’ ball lightning. The image below shows one of the labouratory attempts to create ball lightning.

Ball Lightning in the Lab (Credit: Narod.ru)

The best data concerning natural ball lightning comes from a group of scientists from Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou China who in July of 2012 were studying ordinary cloud to ground lightning on the Tibetan plateau. While they were making their observations they spotting ball lightning and were able to record 1.6 seconds of video of the event. Because the cameras that the scientists were using in their cloud to ground lightning observations were equipped with slitless spectrographs the researchers also succeeded in obtaining the first ever optical spectra of ball lightning.

The spectra obtained by the scientists showed strong emission lines for the elements of silicon, calcium, iron, nitrogen and oxygen. The spectra also showed that the ball lightning had a temperature of less than 14,000K. See spectra below.

Spectra of Ball Lightning (Credit: Wikipedia)

 

This remarkable data has bolstered one of the leading theories about the origin of ball lightning, the ‘Vapourized Silicon Hypothesis’. In this model ordinary lightning strikes the ground vapourizing and ionizing the silicon-dioxide in the soil. As the vapour cools the silicon becomes an aerosol that is bound together by the charges on the ions. The glow of the ball lightning is produced as the silicon recombines with the oxygen.

There are rival hypotheses however, some rooted in solid science, some a little bit kooky. The Microwave Cavity Hypothesis considers ball lightning to be generated by microwave radiation that ionizes the air with the discharge of that ionization causing the glow. The problem with this idea is that while ordinary cloud to ground lightning does produce a lot of radio energy most of it is in the AM and short wave bands rather than microwaves.

Then there’s the Electrically Charged Solid Core hypothesis where a solid object acquires a positive electric charge and becomes surrounded by a layer of electrons. A microwave field keeps the positive and negative charges apart and the high voltage generated between the charges is what we see as the ball lightning. In addition to requiring microwaves again this hypothesis also requires a solid object inside the ball lightning, something not seen in any observations, as well as being something that would have difficulty in passing through solid walls!

Among the more outlandish suggestions there is the mini-black hole model where an atom sized, primordial black hole is passing through our atmosphere and we see it as ball lightning. However there is no reason for a mini-black hole to be as closely associated with ordinary lightning or large electric generators as ball lightning certainly is. Also a mini-black hole would not simply blink out of existence as ball lightning is known to often do.

The mystery of ball lightning will probably continue for some time into the future. However, with so many people nowadays carrying cell phone cameras with them we are likely to get more and better observations of the phenomenon. At the same time scientists will continue working in their labouratories to discover more ways of creating ball lightning-like objects. Considering only 50 years ago some scientists even doubted the existence of ball lightning we’ve made a lot of progress. Clink on the link below to be taken to a youtube video of ball lightning taken outside New Orleans in 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9SrGOma5YE