Attempts to Create Ball Lightning with Triggered Lightning

摘要

During the 2008 ball lightning experiment, around 100 different material samples were exposed to both relatively continuous (initial stage and inter-stroke continuing current) and to impulsive (return stroke) triggered lightning current. All events with properties similar to those reported by eye- witness and laboratory accounts of ball lightning were produced by slowly varying, relatively low amplitude currents during the initial stage of the triggered-lightning process. No events with sustained luminosity duration greater than 100 ms were recorded as a result of impulsive return stroke currents. The luminous balls observed above the stainless steel plates most closely resembled the accounts of ball lightning described in the literature. We apparently duplicated the laboratory experiments of Stephen and Massey (2008) and Paiva et al. (2007) who produced small combusting metal spheres from arcs to metals and of Versteegh et al. (2008) who produced a flame-like phenomena via arcing in water containing calcium chloride.