Re: Tesla Coils & Ball Lightning

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: William Beaty <billb@xxxxxxxxxx>

On Sat, 6 Aug 2005, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: Brett Miller <brmtesla2@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> If I saw something I thought might be ball lightning,
> I would certainly tell people about, and people on
> this list as well.  However, I would not get angry or
> send flames or hate mail when people showed skepticism
> about the observation.

I haven't been on the list long enough.  Is BL another flamewar topic?
Or are the attacks only on private email?

>  Moreover I would be skeptical
> of my own observation if I saw something like a ball
> float through the outside wall of my home and into my
> living room.

Testing for retinal effects is totally trivial: just move your eyes and
see if the glowing spot moves too.  And afterimages have a typical border,
and don't move in 3D and smoothly change size as they approach.  Other
things that cause a glowing "sphere":  powerful laser pointers weilded by
troublemakers outside. Years ago we had a BL report where the witnesses
neglected to mention that the BL was bright cherry red, and it hovered
against the wall.  It was a HeNe laser from kids across the street, and
their son in the house was in on the gag, so he was screaming in "fear"
and working them up.

I'd instantly dismiss a retinal afterimage.  They're so easy to recognize.
I'd be skeptical of anything that resembled a spot of light on the wall.
But if the glowing blotch had a 3D trajectory, and if it made noise, and
if it had internal details that became more visible as the blob moved
nearer then unless wise-ass roommates were a possibility, I'd have no
reason to reject my observations.  There are two types of skeptical
errors:  gullibility and scoffing, i.e. accepting untrue things, and
rejecting true things. Some people think that one type of error is
acceptible, while the other is embarassing.  The fring-ies think that
scoffing is repugnant, while the skeptics think that gullibility is
horrible.  Yet both are errors.


Me, I'm skeptical of the "flashbulb" BL explanation.  If it worked that
way, then people would be reporting BL events all the time after someone
took their picture with a flash camera.  There are many stupid people out
there, yet I've never heard any reports of BL being "created" by camera
flashes.  (But perhaps a camera strobe isn't bright enough to cause a long
term afterimage, and if camera stobes were much more powerful, we'd have
many claims that flash cameras create ball lightning.)


> I have actually gotten flames sent to my personal
> account due to expressing skepticism on this list.

The flamer was wrong, as long as you mean that "Skepticism" is the refusal
to accept claims unless strong evidence is presented.  Scoffing or
ridicule is a totally different matter involving irrational conclusions on
the part of the disbeliever, and has little to do with skepticism.


> I know we weren't taught critical thinking at home and
> at school, and it seems to be falling out of favor
> with modern culture.

Heh.   Don't get me started.

If we taught critical thinking in grade school, the kids would aim their
mental spotlight at the teachers, revealing all the flaws and hypocricy.
To be able to teach critical thinking, first the school systems have to be
genuinly healthy and not just pretending to be.


(((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                            SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb at amasci com                         http://amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits   amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
Seattle, WA  206-789-0775    unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci