On ball lightning. LIANG XiFeng (Department of Physics, Qingdao Technological University, ) N 2

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1 On ball lightning LIAG XiFeng (Department of Physics Qingdao Technological University 66603) Abstract: Ball lightning is a kind of nature phenomenon that is not understood in long time. It has been put down for a long time but has not been explained yet. The article is aimed to explain how the ball lightning comes into being the structure of it as well as other phenomena related to it. Keywords: ball lightning; new structure; ions Introduction The ball lightning has been found from ancient times. However it never means that we ve had a thorough understanding of it. There are many descriptions of the phenomenon 1 from which we can see that it is indeed not an ordinary thing. And it is a natural object whose existence is not explained 3 which arouse a lot of interest. Many people have tried to explain its existence 4-8 however none of them is quite successful. Each of the theories can only explain some phenomena related to it but not all. This article aims to raise a new theory of theory which not only classifies how it forms but can explain nearly all phenomena related to it. In this theory the ball lightning is not a kind of plasma as thought before 9 10 but a kind of structure temporarily existing which is not known before. It is composed by a great number of units like a molecule composed of huge number of atoms. And the atoms of it are actually ions ionized by intense electric current. Even its structure is like the molecule. And using this theory we ll explain almost all of the phenomena related to it. Results The structure of the ball lightning When there is thunder and lightning the air would be ionized intensely. To make it simple we can assume that the air contains only and O and the ionization can be the following ways 3 3 Or O O O O O O There may be some other ions existing such as O + O -. ow it s necessary for us to know how these ions will act. If without any interaction there will certainly a ball of plasma. However we know there is electromagnetic interaction between them. Compared to the structure of the atom which is roughly in Figure-1 we can infer the structures the ions can form.

2 Figure-1 With the electric force the ions can form many small structures like the following ones Figure-

3 Figure-3 The active lines in the two pictures represent the electric force of one ion and the dotted lines are the resultant force. Form the pictures we can see that there re some structures for the ions to circle around one point and the resultant is exactly the centripetal force. So there are some structures for the ions to connect with each other for a short time. Take Figure- as an example. Every ion is in a central filed whose potential is V( r) ( 1 ) e 4 r 0 where r is the distance of one ion and the point. Using Schrodinger equation - V ( r) E m and comparing with the solution of hydrogen atom 11 we can get L l( l 1) L z m r11 3n l( l 1) r n l E n 1 1 ) ( E11 n

4 And we can see that the orbits of these ions are quantized. The structures above are ones of those possibilities and there can be other structures. And we assume that because of quantum interaction the ions form many small structures. We can assume that these ones are exactly the units of the ball lightning or the atoms of it. But how do these units connect? Comparing to the molecule we can infer that they connect with each other through some special interactions similar to the chemical bond in the molecule. Assuming that a ball lightning contains two units shown in Figure- then one ion in an ion for - example can be attracted by the ions in another unit for example. Hence an ionic bond is formed. Also the orbits of the ions will hybrid. With many units uniting a big object will come into being. And that s the ball lightning. When there s intense electric current for example when the lightning happens the molecules of air will be severely ionized producing many free ions. There s certain possibility for these ions to connect each other and form a ball lightning quickly. The phenomena related to the ball lightning early all the phenomena of the ball lightning 1 can be explained as below. The energy transfer of the ball lightning can be simply described as this the energy in the thunder and the lightning the energy in the ball lightning In this case a ball lightning is just like a capacitor which stores the electric energy. And the energy of the ball lightning is E mc Or E E V ( r t) k where E is the kinetic energy of the ball lightning and V ( r t) the potential energy. As shown k by the phenomenon that the ball lightning is cool which indicates that the average kinetic energy of the ball lightning is low. It may be because that the ions and units that compose the ball lightning don t move at a large speed. And also when the speed is high it s much easier for the fragile ball lightning to blow off. And hence the energy of the ionization is mainly stored in the potential energy. With so much energy stored in it the ball lightning is not stable in the often case. It life span if the accurate structure of it is known can be calculated using quantum mechanics. From its structure above we can see that although the ball lightning is composed by positive and negative charge the distance of the ions is much larger than that of the protons and electrons composing the atoms which makes it much easier to be polarized by the electric field or magnetic field than the atoms. The instable distribution makes it very easy for it to be influenced by electric conductors. It s because that when it approaches an electric conductor it rapidly induces electric charge on the electric conductor and the charges of it distribute anew. Thus the tip close to the electric conductor of the ball lightning will have different charge from the tip of the electric conductor close to it. If the induced electric field is not strong enough the ball lightning will not be attracted to the electric conductor. However it will be very sensitive to the electric conductor. When the conductor moves it will move and follow it. When the conductor turns it will turn. That s why the ball lightning will imitate a person or other electric conductors. If the induced electric field is

5 strong enough it will move straight towards the electric conductors. If there is intense electric field or magnetic field the ball lightning will be polarized easily. And the result is that it will move to the electric field or magnetic field. The distribution of the electric charges will be so instable that the ions will collide with each other. Once the first plate falls the other Domino plates will follow. Then in very short time the charges will be neutralized producing intense electric current and huge energy stored in it will be released. If the process occurs in the air the air will be heated and expanded quickly along with which is big sound. Then the ions of the ball lightning will combine as molecules thus the ball lightning disappear. The following reactions will take place - O O - O O - O And so on. As the air is heated so much that the following reactions of the molecules of the air may take place O O 3O O 3 And that s why the smell of O or O 3 like the smelly eggs can be smelled when the ball lightning disappear. The process above can also happen when there is induced electric field produced by the ball lightning itself. And that s why it often approaches the electric wires and will smash them and why it will approach the electric conductors and disappear suddenly but leaving the conductors heated. And it can attack people as human is also a conductor. The current is so intense and lasts so short that it will only melt or heat a very small area leaving the things around unhurt. And being so sensitive to the outside electromagnetic field it often appears to jump up and down quickly in the sky. The ball lightning is electroneutral in the often case but it can also have electric charge. It is just like the ordinary object s having pure charge. We know that there can be extra charge on the surface of a steel ball or something of it. When the amount of the positive charge doesn t equal the amount of the negative charge the ball lightning will have pure charge. When thundering because of the strong electrical field between the clouds and the ground the ball lightnings with pure electric charge will be attracted by the clouds or the ground. When touching the objects that have electric charge they will be neutralized and it often leads lots of particles with opposite electric charge to being neutralized which accounts for the ball lightnings disappear. So some ball lightnings will dive towards the ground. The ball lightning has magnetic torque because of the orbits of the ions making it easier for it to be influenced by magnetic field. Also if there s strong collision from outside world the different charges of the ball lightning may collide making it disappear. Because of the high energy the ions of the ball lightning are generally in the excited state the

6 transition of energy levels will have the ball lightning radiate photons to outside world making it bright like a bulb. And the color of the ball lightning depends on the frequency of the photons. The energy of the ball lightning is E E k V ( r t) where E k is the kinetic energy while V(r t) the potential energy. It can be concluded that the kinetic energy is not high. As firstly the ball lightning exchanges heat with the outside world which will get it to cool down very quickly; second too much kinetic energy makes it more likely for the ions to collide which contributes to it instability. And that s why the ball lightning is cool. Thus the energy of it is mainly stored in the potential energy. The size of the particles composing it is even smaller than 1nm and it s easy for it to go through a wall or something like it. When disappearing in the air because the huge intensity of discharge and the huge temperature it produces it s easy for the following reactions to occur O O 3O O Hence when disappearing in the air there s often some smell of O or O 3. Then how does the ball lightning come into being? Generally speaking whenever there s huge intensity of discharge which can bring about the strong ionization of the molecules of the air there s some possibility that the ions will gather for seconds and even longer to form the plasma composing the ball lightning. So when there is thunder and lightning it s likely for the ball lightning to form. Also it s possible that men can produce it in the laboratory and there ve been some successful cases. However the ball lightnings made by men are not as strong as the natural one in most cases as the electric current we use is not so strong as the current in the clouds. Even when there s no thunder or lightning there s some possibility that the ions in the plasmasphere of the atmosphere above the earth can gather and form a ball lightning. If there s enough velocity under the effects of the gravity it may fall on the ground. The bonds of the units of the ball lightning are loose in the often case not like the intense bonds between the atoms. And thus it s very likely for a ball lightning to split into two or more ones. If more than one ball lightning is close enough they will be attracted by each other because of the induced field of both. If the electric field is not intense enough the ions of different ball lightnings close to each other will form new bonds and the ball lightning will combine forming a larger one. If the electric field is strong enough the ones will collide and disappear. It can be seen from the phenomena that the ions orbits of some ball lightnings have certain period which has the ball lightning change its size in certain frequency. And it can be explained by quantum mechanics if its structure is known. Discussion ow the phenomena of the ball lightning have been explained. The structure of the ball lightning is of great importance to us. It a new kind of structure that we never meet before and dealing with it can help us understand what happens in the wide nature. And it can be referred to by many other subjects such as solid-state physics. The study of the ball lightning may offer us a way of using the energy of thunder and lightning which has been long pursued. As we may set conditions and let the energy of thunder and 3

7 lightning to store in ball lightnings which serve as capacitors now and then get the energy from them. Also by knowing what it is it s better for us to prevent the harm of it. Above are basic explanations of the ball lightning now they need to be tested by experiments. Referees: 1. CHARMA W.. ''Ball lightning" Phys. Rep. (Rev. Sect. Phys. Lett.) 54 (1979) SMIROV B. M. "The properties and the nature of ball lightning" Phys. Rep. (Rev Sect. of Phys. Lett) 15 (1987) STEHOFF Mark Ball Lightning - An Unsolved Problem in Atmospheric Physics Kluwer (1999). 4. TURER D. J. "The structure and stability of ball lighming" Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Land. A 347 (1994) ROTII J. Reece "Ball ligh1ning as a route to fusion energy" 13th Symp. Fusion Energy Knoxville Tennessee October -6 vol. II (1989) KAPITSA Pyotr "The nature of ball lightning'' Dok/. Akad. auk USSS 101 (1955) (in Russian). 7. KADOMTSEV Boris Ball lightning as a phenomenon of self-organization J. Moscow Phys. Soc 1(1991) SADULOVICIU Mircea "Cell structures in physical plasma resulting after a self-organization mechanism maintained by quantum processes" The Origin of Life (abstracts) The Sixth ISSOL Meeting and the inth International Conference Prague (1989) ROTH J. Reece "Ball lightning: what nature is trying to tell the plasma research commuoity" Fusion Technology 7 (1995) SATO Tetsuya "Complexity in plasma: scenario of self-organization" J. Korean Phys. Soc. 31(1997) S109-Sl l l. 11. L.D. Landau Quantum Mechanics on-relativistic Theory Pergamon Press(1958) 1. BARRY James Dale Ball lightning and Bead Lightning Plenum (1980).