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New, Persuasive Theory of Ball Lightning

Posted by Hemos on from the roll-and-pole-'em dept.

Conrad Albrecht-Buehler writes "ScienceNews is running a brief overview of a new theory that attempts to explain ball lightning. The theory is quite persuasive and argues that aerosol particles are formed by charged plasma ions moving outward and collecting water molecules in the air. The aerosol particles form a shell around the plasma that maintains its shape. Certainly a fascinating read!"

36 comments

  1. Goodness gracious by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    Great Fist Sports of fire!

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  2. And just for the record... by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    This article is a load of...

    WARM BAWLS!

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  3. Ionised Particles? by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    "It's the WILL of ALLAH." claim the runners-up in the Human Race.

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  4. Advice for OSS programmers by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    If you live near a Synagogue, check in their bins every Saturday to obtain a big bagful of discarded baby foreskins. You'll find they provide a cheap, nutritious alternative to getting a real fucking job and earning enough money to feed yourself properly.

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  5. Is Slashdot poorly? by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    Or does nobody care about it anymore?

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  6. Sickdot by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    How many posts can I get before someone else notices?

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  7. Seventh Post by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    I declare this article dead. It has ceased to be.

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  8. Yet MORE Scientific Propaganda by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    How many innocent children have been BUTCHERED in the name of Stem Cell Research? And now they are saying that GOD'S WRATH is based on such bedevilment as "ionisation"?

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  9. Cocking piss-wank! by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these things! w00t!

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
    1. Re:Cocking piss-wank! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Nine in a row, fuck yeah! Mad props to you!

  10. Where are my plasma cannons then???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    This is a lot more plausible than the half assed theories that some self generating magnetic field was keeping the plasma spheroid in cohesive form. My own personal theory was that a sphere of pure shite from ringbarer's postings was somehow utilised by the ball lightening to both keep its form and fuel it. Anyway ball lightining is piss easy to make in your microwave. Just ask the google and it shall school you.

    1. Re:Where are my plasma cannons then???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      How dare you!! I was enjoying seeing our good friend Ringbarer's progess into this story and you have ruined it!

  11. I can never manage post ten by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    Someone always jumps in before that.

    But I'd hardly call that stream of prehensile drivel I've just squirted out a 'story'. Now, that time I was stalking Timmah, things were going somewhere. Then the bastard had me IP Blocked.

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  12. That's EIGHTEEN MINUTES! by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    Before someone else notices the article. Terrifying, really. Guess the Janitors' delusions of journalistic grandeur are falling short somehow, as more and more people desert Slashdot in favour of Kuro5hin. (Now blissfully OSDN free!)

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  13. Fifteen posts by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    And not one above zero.

    Guess that's Slashdot 'quality' for you!

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  14. Huh huh huh by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    He said "aerosol"

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  15. Come on now... by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    Surely SOMEONE must have something relevant to say here. Or are you all groveling on the floor in awe of the big shiny round thing in the sky?

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
    1. Re:Come on now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Apparently not...

  16. Quite clearly... by ringbarer · · Score: -1

    Slashdot is failing its target audience, and the indifference to the articles which DO get approved is a reflection of that.

    --
    "Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
  17. Why aint this on the front page you wanks!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Fist Sport or not. Whats the fucking point if its not on the front page you ravenious cockmunchers!

  18. Plasma cannon, anyone? by maddogsparky · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The descriptions of the high-energy balls that sear through metal, trees and people are remenicent of the plasma cannons in Mech Warrior.

    I can't help but think that if someone is successful at reproducing ball lightning in the lab, the military will make try to make use of it.

    --
    science is a religion
    1. Re:Plasma cannon, anyone? by WinPimp2K · · Score: 1

      1>Seems kinda slow moving to have much utility as a weapon.
      2>Doesn't exactly follow apredictable path. Using it on a battlefield would be like playing soccer with an American style football.
      3>Battlefield directed energy weapons in general have a problem. The energy requirements are enormous. A laser beam that carries the energy equivalent of 25 kilos of high explosive is going to need a whole lot of generator /fuel cells to power it. This would tend to make it a much more expensive (and much less versatile) target than a piece of field artillery that can lob 25 kilo smart shells with a variety of different types of ammunition. Or if you don't like artillery, just consider the small missiles easily mounted on vehicles. As a recnetly in the news example, you just can't make a self contained single shot energy weapon fit in the same sized package as a Hellfire missile that will do equivalent damage.

      I like the idea of energy weapons, but I don't think the BLG 6500 is going to be one of them, and I don't think they will have much of a place on the battlefield. In space, certainly, and possibly as part of a fixed defensive position, but not on tanks or close support aircraft. Having shot my mouth off,I do recall that the US military has been experimenting with directed energy weapons, but I don't know what the results were.

      And giant robots, piloted or not, running across the battlefield just screams out "easy kill" to a modern tank or A-10.

      --

      You either believe in rational thought or you don't
    2. Re:Plasma cannon, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, Tesla's last experiment was on creating a high energy discharge with the same properties as ball lightning. It's what his Long Island tower was for. Basically he thought plasma cannons would revolutionize warfare and make conflicts less likely, similar in effect to nuclear weapons. Maybe one day we will see this.

    3. Re:Plasma cannon, anyone? by Merovign · · Score: 1

      Military my hinder, I'm starting tomorrow morning!

      Well, there goes my electrical bill...

    4. Re:Plasma cannon, anyone? by Rogerborg · · Score: 2
      • Using it on a battlefield would be like playing soccer with an American style football

      You use a laser or maser to create an ionised path to the target. Apparently. ;-)

      • And giant robots, piloted or not, running across the battlefield just screams out "easy kill" to a modern tank or A-10.

      Or a pack of teddy bears armed with rope and tree trunks. Apparently. ;-)

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    5. Re:Plasma cannon, anyone? by Winged+Cat · · Score: 1

      And giant robots, piloted or not, running across the battlefield just screams out "easy kill" to a modern tank or A-10.

      Across an open field, sure. But what about in mountains, or forests, or in a city? Or, heck, what about seashore, where they're mostly submerged? "There's a sub somewhere around this location. Grope about 'til you find it, then pick it up and bring it ashore." Or, "dive, swim to this location, stand on the sea bottom, lift this enemy boat out of the water, and carry it into port. Shake 'em around if they try to get cute with depth charges."

  19. Pictures of Ball Lightning by panthro · · Score: 5, Informative

    I realize they're pretty hard to come by, but does anyone have any really 'good' or 'typical' ones? I've never seen ball lightning, and I'm not sure I've seen any good pics of it (having nothing to judge against).

    BL #1 BL #2 BL #3 BL #4

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
    1. Re:Pictures of Ball Lightning by Serial+Troller · · Score: -1

      Can I ask you a question? Do you like being forced onto your knees and getting SPRAYED IN THE FACE WITH SEMEN??? If you do, email me! serialtroller@hotmail.com

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      STOP ME BEFORE I POST AGAIN!

  20. Never seen it? Make it yourself. by candot · · Score: 4, Informative

    Look, you can make ball lightning in your own home. Note, don't try this at home.


    http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/cwillis/micr ow ave.html

    1. Re:Never seen it? Make it yourself. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've tried this in a friend's microwave using a similar device. The arcing device was slightly raised by placing it on an overturned pyrex dish.

      Although we could not get it to generate ball lightning we did melt a hole through the pyrex dish.

      Pyrex melts at around 1500 DEG F!!!

  21. I tried it at home . . . by slurry47 · · Score: 1

    . . . and it works good!

    Lots of ordinary, every-day objects get way funner when put in a microwave oven.

    Try a lightbulb.

    Really.

    --


    Dirt doesn't need luck.
    1. Re:I tried it at home . . . by Serial+Troller · · Score: -1

      Last time I followed lightbulb advice from a Slashdot posting, I ended up with GLASS SHARDS embedded in my ANUS!! Some kind of sex tips from a guy named Alan Cocks or Anal Cox or something. Grrr!!

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      STOP ME BEFORE I POST AGAIN!

  22. Don't try this at home... by TheMidget · · Score: 1

    Try it at your dorm or your office kitchen instead!

  23. I have Balls of Lightning! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    Hi. I'm from Cambodia, and I can empty and reload my
    balls faster than you can say "trashy popular news
    site for wannabes".


    I want you to visit my guestbook at http://mercury.beseen.com/guestbook/d/187165/guest book.html

    1. Re:I have Balls of Lightning! by Serial+Troller · · Score: -1
      Trashy? No, the correct word for this site is -- everyone say it with me now --

      SLOP!!


      Thank you.
      --

      STOP ME BEFORE I POST AGAIN!

  24. Haahahahahah! by Serial+Troller · · Score: -1

    -1: 28 comments
    0: 8 comments
    1: 6 comments
    2: 3 comments
    3: 3 comments
    4: 2 comments
    5: 0 comments

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    STOP ME BEFORE I POST AGAIN!