Re: Beading caught on film.

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Mike" <mikev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Ed,
                The weather study people doing lightning study film these
events just as you see them but with standard and high speed cameras. To
stop over load or over exposure filters are used. Yet these same effects are
seen and recorded.
The prior comments on spiraling or Birkeland currents could have some value
but even then, pictures of Birkeland currents, which are seen in Tesla
discharges, the whole side of the spiral can be see. in detail (AKA the
twist).
I think what you saw is what you saw, plus after image.
Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 1:25 PM
Subject: Re: Beading caught on film.


> Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> "I did see this once by eye in a natural lightning strike. I was
> traveling
> north in stop and go traffic, in west central Florida, an area that has
> particulary robust lightning. I had the window down on the car, and I
> was
> watching an approaching storm head. There came a bolt close enough to
> hear
> the arc as it connected with the ground, so I quickly turned my head to
> the
> left, to see the arc. It was one of those moments that I caught just
> right,
> because as I watched the bolt decay, it didn't just "shut off" as they
> often seem to, rather, it became segmented like a string of sausages, or
> a
> dashed vertical line. The links shrunk into smaller and smaller
> segments,
> until finally I saw what could be best compared to a string of pearls.
> The
> ball segment lasted only a split second, then they all vanished. I was
> probably only able to see this because of it's near proximity and it was
> in
> the mid afternoon, so there was not a severe difference in contrast
> between
> the daytime sky and the arc of lightning.
>      Not quite Tesla coil related, but I thought I would share this
> experience with you since the one frame of the film reminded my of that
> experience. It was quite amazing how the solid line became so perfectly
> like this ----------  to ............
>
> Dave Goodfellow"
>
> I once saw something very similar under almost identical conditions.
> "Hiss - BOOM".  However, I was convinced at the time (still am) that
> most of the interesting visual effects were as a result of "overloading"
> the eye and were the result of retinal fatigue.
>
> Ed
>
>
>