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Re: Golka video: Ball Lightning in lab. WHAT?!!!!!



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

True, Lightning is fundamentally DC, however it has a very fast rise time to peak current. Also there is still a limited understanding of lightning, i.e. If its DC discharging all charge in one huge pulse, then how can it strike multiple times (why is there charge left?) Some say the lightning creates a magnetic field (fast rise time) that *quenches* the *arc* before it's had time to fully discharge. These rise times and *impulses* may have harmonics that can induce currents in any surrounding metal objects, such as electronic equipment or powerlines. Some combination of the above creates ball lightning.

See this website, they are leaders in lightning surge protection.

http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_TD1019.aspx

Thanks

Chris


----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 2:03 AM Subject: Re: Golka video: Ball Lightning in lab. WHAT?!!!!!


Original poster: William Beaty <billb@xxxxxxxxxx>

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005, Tesla list wrote:

> However I believe ball lightning is an AC phenomena, and the Golka video > is
> DC,



IIRC, natural lightning is totally DC, and a shorted battery bank *might* be a closer match than a Tesla coil. I'll have to double check this (I think the Martin Uman book LIGHTNING has the waveforms of the transient fields during lightning strikes, perhaps even currents.)


> and I'd imagine what he is generating is bits of molten metal, and not > ball lightning. - I could be wrong.

That's the issue.  Unless you're on a slow modem, check out that
video:  http://www.eskimo.com/~bilb/GolkaBL.wmv  (30 megs)

The "welding spatter" skittering around on the watter appears to be
glowing beads about 7mm in diameter, but they shrink enormously as time
goes by, perhaps to 10x smaller diameter.


If someday I have a way to create those same "welding spatter" beads, I'll try casting their shadows on a frosted screen. As with the shadow of a candle flame, it will eliminate any "illusions" and make the diameter measurable. It will also prove whether or not there is a liquid metal droplet buried in the center of the (larger?) glowing sphere.


> AFIK Tesla had a problem with ball lightning, they are allegedly related > to
> a resonance of E fields, all oscillating around one another to create a
> ball, imagine a Fourier series in 3 dimensions....


My suspicions exactly.   But such a thing might be created by a DC pulse
from a battery bank.




(((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (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