Re: Ball lightning ?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Mike Nolley by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <nolleym-at-willamette.edu>

> But it is as close as we seem to get.  I think ball lightning is right in
> our hands now but we just don't "see" it or tickle it just right to get it
> going.  I think the "answer" is right here waiting for us :-))

    Ball lightning could very well be a chemical reaction, but there are some
other theories that are no less plausible, among them the notion that BL is a
stable kind of current vortex caused by sharp rise time currents.  Imagine the
smoke ring model, where a Quaker oatmeal box is filled with smoke and a small
aperture cut in one end.  When the opposite end is tapped, small smoke
rings will
pop out of the opening.  BL also may requires a current "cavity" in the
form of an
inductance, a proper circular aperture or pre-existing vortex, and sharp
rise time
currents.
    Just a thought.
                        --Mike