Ball lightning is a natural phenomenon, or debatably, a pseudoscientific theory. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms. It takes the form of a long-lived, glowing, floating object, as opposed to the short-lived arcing between two points commonly associated with lightning. An early attempt to explain ball lightning was recorded by Nikola Tesla on March 5, 1904 (Electrical World and Engineer). [1] There is dispute on the existence of ball lightning. Many in the scientific community seek be ...

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Ball lightning - Reports Ball lightning - Analysis Ball lightning - Esoteric explanations Ball lightning - Quotes

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Ball lightning, Ball lightning - Reports, Ball lightning - Analysis, Ball lightning - Esoteric explanations, Ball lightning - Quotes

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For a long time the phenomenon was treated as myth. Although the exact nature of the phenomenon is still the subject of speculation, there is now agreement that it is neither mythical nor purely psychological. Surveys have been taken of eyewitness accounts by at least 3000 people, and it has been photographed several times. There is as yet no widely accepted explanation for ball lightning. Some difficult features to explain are the longevity of existence and the near neutral buoyancy in air. It may be that the energy is feeding the gl ...

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Ball lightning, Ball lightning - Reports, Ball lightning - Analysis, Ball lightning - Esoteric explanations, Ball lightning - Quotes

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Lightning is a powerful natural electrostatic discharge produced during a thunderstorm. Lightning's abrupt electric discharge is accompanied by the emission of visible light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The electric current passing through the discharge channels rapidly heats and expands the air into plasma, producing acoustic shock waves (thunder) in the atmosphere. Lightning - Early lightning research. During early investigations into electricity via Leyden jars and other instruments, a n ...

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Lightning - Early lightning research Lightning - Modern research Lightning - How lightning is formed Lightning - Types of lightning
Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning Lightning - Ball lightning Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning Lightning - Streak lightning Lightning - Triggered lightning Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System
Lightning - Lightning safety Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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The will o' the wisps or ignis fatuus ("fool's fire") is the phenomenon of ghostly lights sometimes seen at night or in twilight hovering over damp ground in still air, often over bogs. The will o' the wisps is said to recede if approached. Much folklore has attached to it, leaving some reluctant to accept scientific explanations. Will o' the wisp - Terminology. The lights themselves (as opposed to the phenomenon) are more often referred to as something like corpse candles, as in the De ...

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Will o' the wisp - Terminology Will o' the wisp - Folklore Will o' the wisp - Literature Will o' the wisp - Theories of origin Will o' the wisp - Other titles Will o' the wisp - Sources

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An anomalous phenomenon is an observed phenomenon for which there is no suitable explanation in the context of a specific body of scientific knowledge (for example, astronomy or biology). Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction. Out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, extrasensory perception, ghosts, demonic encounters, poltergeists, as well as sightings of UFOs and reports of alien abductions are phenomena, most of which are not widely accepted as real by mainstream scientists, some of whom go as far ...

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Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction Anomalous phenomenon - Written works

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Some lightning strikes take on particular characteristics, and scientists and the public have given names to these various types of lightning. Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers. Intracloud lightning is the most common type of lightning which occurs completely inside one cumulonimbus cloud, and is commonly called an anvil crawler. Discharges of electricity in anvil crawlers travel up the sides of the cumulonimbus cloud branching out at the anvil top. Lightning - C ...

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Lightning, Lightning - Early lightning research, Lightning - Modern research, Lightning - How lightning is formed, Lightning - Types of lightning, Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers, Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning, Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning, Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning, Lightning - Ball lightning, Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning, Lightning - Streak lightning, Lightning - Triggered lightning, Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System, Lightning - Lightning safety, Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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A bolt of lightning can reach temperatures approaching 28,000 kelvins (50,000 degrees Fahrenheit) in a split second. This is about five times hotter than the surface of the sun. The heat of lightning which strikes loose soil or sandy regions of the ground may fuse the soil or sand into glass channels called fulgurites. These are sometimes found under the sandy surfaces of beaches and golf courses, or in desert regions. Fulgurites are evidence that lightning spreads out into ...

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Lightning, Lightning - Early lightning research, Lightning - Modern research, Lightning - How lightning is formed, Lightning - Types of lightning, Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers, Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning, Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning, Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning, Lightning - Ball lightning, Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning, Lightning - Streak lightning, Lightning - Triggered lightning, Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System, Lightning - Lightning safety, Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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Although experiments from the time of Franklin showed that lightning was a discharge of static electricity, there was little improvement in theory for more than 150 years. The impetus for new research was from the field of power engineering: power transmission lines came into use, and engineers needed to know much more about lightning. Although causes were debated (and are today to some extent), research produced a wealth of new information about lightning phenomena, especially amounts of current and en ...

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Lightning, Lightning - Early lightning research, Lightning - Modern research, Lightning - How lightning is formed, Lightning - Types of lightning, Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers, Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning, Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning, Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning, Lightning - Ball lightning, Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning, Lightning - Streak lightning, Lightning - Triggered lightning, Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System, Lightning - Lightning safety, Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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During early investigations into electricity via Leyden jars and other instruments, a number of people (Dr. Wall, Gray, and Abbé Nollet) proposed that small-scale sparks shared some similarity with lightning. Benjamin Franklin, who also invented the lightning rod, endeavoured to test this theory using a spire which was being erected in Philadelphia. Whilst he was waiting for the spire completion, some others (Dalibard and De Lors) conducted at Marly in France what became to be known as the Philadelphi ...

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Lightning, Lightning - Early lightning research, Lightning - Modern research, Lightning - How lightning is formed, Lightning - Types of lightning, Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers, Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning, Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning, Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning, Lightning - Ball lightning, Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning, Lightning - Streak lightning, Lightning - Triggered lightning, Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System, Lightning - Lightning safety, Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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Thunderstorms are the primary source of lightning. Because people have been struck many kilometers away from a storm, seeking immidiate and effective shelter when thunderstorms approach is an important part of lightning safety. Contrary to popular notion, there is no 'safe' location outdoors. People have been struck in sheds, make shift shelters, etc. A better location would be inside a vehicle (a crude type of Faraday cage). It is advis ...

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Lightning, Lightning - Early lightning research, Lightning - Modern research, Lightning - How lightning is formed, Lightning - Types of lightning, Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers, Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning, Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning, Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning, Lightning - Ball lightning, Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning, Lightning - Streak lightning, Lightning - Triggered lightning, Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System, Lightning - Lightning safety, Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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Among European rural people, especially in Gaelic and Slavic folk cultures, the will o' the wisps is held to be mischievous spirits of the dead or other supernatural beings attempting to lead travellers astray (compare Puck.) Sometimes they are believed to be the spirits of unbaptized or stillborn children, flitting between heaven and hell (compare Wilis). Modern occultist elaborations bracket them with the salamander, a type of spirit wholly independent from humans (unlike ghosts, which are presumed to have been humans at some point in the past). They also fit the description of certain types of fairy, which m ...

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Will o' the wisp, Will o' the wisp - Terminology, Will o' the wisp - Folklore, Will o' the wisp - Literature, Will o' the wisp - Theories of origin, Will o' the wisp - Other titles, Will o' the wisp - Sources

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The first process in the generation of lightning is the forcible separation of positive and negative charge carriers within a cloud or air. The mechanism by which this happens is still the subject of research, but one widely accepted theory is the polarisation mechanism. This mechanism has two components: the first is that falling droplets of ice and rain become electrically polarised as they fall through the atmosphere's natural electric field, and the second is that colliding ice particles become charged by electrostatic induction. Once ch ...

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Lightning, Lightning - Early lightning research, Lightning - Modern research, Lightning - How lightning is formed, Lightning - Types of lightning, Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers, Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning, Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning, Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning, Lightning - Ball lightning, Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning, Lightning - Streak lightning, Lightning - Triggered lightning, Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System, Lightning - Lightning safety, Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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In literature, Will o' the wisp often has a metaphorical meaning, describing any hope or goal that leads one on but is impossible to reach, or something one finds sinister and confounding. Some examples of references in literature are: Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner describes the Will o'the wisp. The poem was first published in the Lyrical Ballads of 1798.    "About, about in reel and rout,      
...

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Will o' the wisp, Will o' the wisp - Terminology, Will o' the wisp - Folklore, Will o' the wisp - Literature, Will o' the wisp - Theories of origin, Will o' the wisp - Other titles, Will o' the wisp - Sources

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One possible naturalistic and scientific explanation for such phenomena is that the oxidation of hydrogen phosphide and methane gases produced by the decay of organic material may cause glowing lights to appear in the air. Experiments, for example, done by the Italian chemists Luigi Garlaschelli and Paolo Boschetti, have replicated the lights by adding chemicals to the gasses formed by rotting compounds. Critics claim that this theory does not easily account for reported cases which claim lights bob, swoo ...

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Will o' the wisp, Will o' the wisp - Terminology, Will o' the wisp - Folklore, Will o' the wisp - Literature, Will o' the wisp - Theories of origin, Will o' the wisp - Other titles, Will o' the wisp - Sources

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Thunderstorms are the primary source of lightning. Because people have been struck many kilometers away from a storm, seeking immediate and effective shelter when thunderstorms approach is an important part of lightning safety. Contrary to popular notion, there is no 'safe' location outdoors. People have been struck in sheds, make shift shelters, etc. A better location would be inside a vehicle (a crude type of Faraday cage). It is advis ...

See also:

Lightning, Lightning - Early lightning research, Lightning - Modern research, Lightning - How lightning is formed, Lightning - Types of lightning, Lightning - Intracloud lightning sheet lightning anvil crawlers, Lightning - Cloud-to-ground lightning anvil lightning, Lightning - Bead lightning ribbon lightning staccato lightning, Lightning - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Ground-to-cloud lightning, Lightning - Heat lightning or summer lightning, Lightning - Ball lightning, Lightning - Sprites elves jets and other upper atmospheric lightning, Lightning - Streak lightning, Lightning - Triggered lightning, Lightning - Lightning throughout the Solar System, Lightning - Lightning safety, Lightning - Facts and Trivia

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St. Elmo's Fire is named after Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors (who held its appearance to be auspicious). Physically, it is a bright bluish-white glow, appearing like fire in some circumstances, often in double or triple jets, from tall, sharply-pointed structures such as masts, spires and chimneys. It is named such because the phenomenon commonly occurs at the mastheads of ships during thunderstorms at sea. Benjamin Franklin correctly observed in 1749 that it is electric in nature. It is said t ...

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St. Elmo's fire, St. Elmo's fire - Observation, St. Elmo's fire - Other works

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References to St. Elmo's Fire, often known as "corposants" or "corpusants" from the Spanish Cuerpos Santos (Holy Bodies), can be found in the works of Julius Caesar (De Bello Africo,47), Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, book 2, par. 101) , Herman Melville, and Antonio Pigafetta's journal of his voyage with Ferdinand Magellan. "'Look aloft!!' cried Starbuck. 'The corpusants! The corpusants!' All the yard-arms were tipped with a pallid fire; and touched at each tri-pointed lightning-rod-end with three tape ...

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St. Elmo's fire, St. Elmo's fire - Observation, St. Elmo's fire - Other works

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A scientific expedition, recently returned from the Andes where they had unearthed the tomb of the Inca, Rascar Capac, start to fall mysteriously ill one by one. The only clue are shards of crystal found near each comatose victim, which will turn out to come from shattered crystal balls. Concerned, Tintin, Haddock and Calculus go to stay with Calculus' old friend, the ebullient Professor Tarragon. But Rascar Capac's mummy soon disappears from the house when a lightning storm sends a ball of fire down the chimney, and, after each being visited in their nightmares by the mummy, the three wake to find Tarragon ...

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The Seven Crystal Balls, The Seven Crystal Balls - The storyline, The Seven Crystal Balls - Notes

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Pikachu are ground-dwelling rodents with an affinity for electricity and lightning. They live in forests and plains, and forage for berries. The glandular pouches residing in its cheeks allow it to charge up and store electricity in chemical form, which it can discharge in bolts of lightning or ball lightning to defend itself from attackers (or attack its foe in a Pokémon battle), but it occasionally discharges electricity to roast a berry to make it tender enough to eat, or simply to keep from overloading. (An inability to discharge electr ...

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Pikachu, Pikachu - Name Origin, Pikachu - Biology, Pikachu - In the anime, Pikachu - Ash Ketchum's Pikachu, Pikachu - Other Pikachu, Pikachu - In the manga, Pikachu - In the video games, Pikachu - In the card game

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