Ball lightning – one of the main mysteries of modern science. There are hundreds of eyewitness accounts, even video recordings, however, until now scientists have not even been able to come close to unraveling their secrets.
Ball lightning can rightfully be called one of the most rare natural phenomena.
What is ball lightning, is still unknown. There are more than four hundred theories explaining them, but none of them is proven.
Until now, nobody has managed to reproduce fireball artificially.
Most often, fireballs are observed in stormy weather, but there are cases of their observation and a clear day.
For the first time the appearance of fireball was documented in 1638, when it flew during a thunderstorm into a village church.
According to some eyewitnesses, ball lightning is able to pass through the walls without losing form.
The lifetime of ball lightning is from a few seconds to several hours.
The temperature in the center of the ball lightning, presumably, is several thousand degrees.
Despite the name, ball lightning does not always have a spherical shape.
The most commonly observed ball lightning size about ten to twenty centimeters in diameter.
Ball lightning can melt the window glass by touching it.
The energy density per unit volume in ball lightning reaches record values.
The life-time of ball lightning sometimes ends with its explosion.
Ball lightning can travel at speeds of up to about ten meters per second.
For unknown reasons, ball lightning like to penetrate into the rooms through windows and doors.
The color of the ball lightning can be different – white, yellow, greenish.
In 1963, after striking an ordinary lightning, ball lightning penetrated into the airplane that was flying from New York to Washington, but did not inflict any damage.
