New insights into creating ball lightning in the lab (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Suzi Gage
BBC News

US researchers say they have developed a more efficient way to produce a kind of ball lightning in the lab.

The Colorado team made brilliant clouds of plasma emerge from a specially prepared solution and maintained them for nearly half a second.

In nature, ball lightning has been seen to float across land or through buildings and to even bounce down the aisles of aircraft.

But its rarity has made it extremely hard to study and to understand.

The US Air Force Academy team hopes its new approach can help science to better understand this strange spectacle.
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23712393
paywall: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp400001y?prevSearch=ball%2Blightning&searchHistoryKey=

[dimbear]

1. Ball lightning is just so fascinating....the intersection between science and the occult.

Take a spin down memory lane and check out Fate magazine from the 50's/60's for articles on it.