Re: Teslas Ball Lightning

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Chris Rutherford" <chris1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Correction, Page111.
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:chris1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>Chris Rutherford
To: <mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>Tesla list
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 7:23 PM
Subject: Teslas Ball Lightning

Hi List,

Tesla makes several references to 'ball lightning' throughout his works.

It is possible that it does exist, but not in the spectacular form as 
described by many.  I have spoken to someone who claims to have seen 
a 10" ball hovering around some electricity pylons, but these don't 
match the type described in CSN.  The balls produced by a Tesla coil 
are small and only last a fraction of a second.  On p114 of the CSN 
small dots appeared in his streamers, but he dismissed this as a 
persistence of vision.  Yet on p333 he goes further. "The actual 
appearance of these luminous spots or points is unmistakable".  He 
later discusses the formation through the rapid heating of 
particles.  "The fire ball may be connected with a process akin to 
explosion or sudden volatilisation."   The dictionary definition of 
volatilisation is "to make volatile", thus he might be describing a 
process that makes stable molecules become unstable, releasing light.

Has anyone seen ball lightning described in this context, rather than 
the more spectacular sightings?

What sort off power levels would he have been using at that time?

<http://www.hackinghardware.com/tesla/mlbl.jpg>www.hackinghardware.com/tesla/mlbl.jpg


Thanks

Chris