Electromagnetic Induction and Relativistic Double Layer: Mechanism for Ball Lightning Formation

Abstract

What is the probability that ball lightning (BL) is a real phenomenon of nature? The answer depends on your prior information. If you are one of those lucky men who had a close encounter with a BL and escaped unscathed, your probability that it is real equals, of course, unity. On the other hand, if you are a theoretical physicist deeply involved in the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion, your probability is likely to be zero. In this study, an attempt is being made to raise the likelihood of reality of BL phenomenon for everyone, plasma physicists included. BL is conceived here as highly structured formation of air, at roughly atmospheric pressure, with a set of nested sheaths, each of which is a double electrical layer with voltage drop in the order of 100 kV.

Electromagnetic Waves in Annular Regions

“…Finally, in the atmospheric phenomenon known as ball lightning (see, e.g., [47,48]), some form of radiation stays constrained for minutes in confined erratic regions. A hypothesis is that such objects also originate from electromagnetic waves trapped in bubbles [49,50], or more elaborated shapes [51][52][53][54], including rings.…”