Israeli researchers have built a system to create the mystery of ball lightning in a laboratory. Eli Jerby and Vladimir Dikhtyar of Tel Aviv University suggest that controlled production of ball lightning could someday lead to uses in coating, deposition, combustion, and novel methods of energy production. They published the results of their experiments in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters (PDF). From PhysicsWeb:
The device consists of the magnetron from a 600-watt domestic microwave oven and concentrates its power into a volume of just one cubic centimetre. The researchers inject the microwaves though a pointed rod into a solid substrate made from glass, silicon, germanium, alumina or other ceramics. The energy from the microwaves then produces a molten hot spot in the substrate.What the scientists then do is pull the microwave drill out of the solid, which drags the molten hot spot and creates a hot drop. The drop then becomes a floating fireball that measures about 3 centimetres across and lasts for some tens of milliseconds (see figure). "The fireball looks like a hot jellyfish, quivering and buoyant in the air," says Jerby.
Link to PhysicsWeb article, Link to Jerby's site with videos, Link to previous post about making ball lightning in your kitchen
