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Ball Lightning: An Elusive Force of Nature

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Forces of Nature and Cultural Responses

Abstract

Ball Lightning (BL) is a metastable, rare phenomenon and one of the most unusual and controversial. Reports have been numerous and varied, and have fascinated and perplexed researchers for centuries. Ball lightning has proved impossible to predict and is extremely difficult to document in the natural environment. Laboratory attempts at simulation have been challenging. However, much discussion has been detailed in the literature and countless laboratory experiments presented. Ball lightning has been witnessed indoors, outdoors, and from the skies by aviation professionals and passengers. Critics claim the phenomenon does not exist. It has been discounted as hallucinations, misidentification, and folklore. This chapter examines theory and development, along with historical and contemporary discussion of the phenomenon.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge Prof. Vladimir Bychkov and Asst. Prof. Alexander Keul for their research assistance. Gratitude goes to NOAA and Prof. Ofuruton and Prof. Ohtsuki for image reproductions.

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  1. Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO), London, UK

    Robert K. Doe

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Correspondence to Robert K. Doe .

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  1. Department of History, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, 5020, Austria

    Katrin Pfeifer

  2. Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Ludwig Maxmilian University, Munich, 80539, Germany

    Niki Pfeifer

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Doe, R.K. (2013). Ball Lightning: An Elusive Force of Nature. In: Pfeifer, K., Pfeifer, N. (eds) Forces of Nature and Cultural Responses. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5000-5_2

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