It is said that thunder will produce golden spheres and then explode. Is there any more detailed information about this?

A: Spherical lightning is a very rare lightning shape. There are four kinds of lightning: linear, ribbon, rocket and ball. Linear lightning is the most common and spherical lightning is rare, but in the past half century, human beings have recorded more than 4000 spherical lightning phenomena.

According to meteorologists, spherical lightning is like a fireball, about the size of a basketball, and occasionally it is several meters or even dozens of meters in diameter. Spherical lightning often occurs in bad weather of strong thunderstorm. Ball lightning has a strange temper. It drills as soon as it sees a crack. It often drills into the room from doors and windows, chimneys and even cracks, and sometimes it can move along the wires and burn at a speed of about 2 meters per second. It usually moves horizontally, and sometimes stands still in the air or lands slowly. Some spherical lightning can still rotate when moving, while others will bounce back. It hissed when it moved and made a loud explosion when it disappeared. The vibration energy is enough to destroy ordinary buildings. Because the air reacts chemically during the explosion, ozone and nitric oxide are generated, so there is an unpleasant smell after the ball lightning disappears.

Although spherical lightning is a burning fireball, it will not cause fire when it is close to some flammable objects such as trees, paper and hay, but it can burn wet trees and houses in the explosion. If you fall into the pool, spherical lightning will make the water boil. It can easily pass through the glass, or it can be drilled into the house through the crack of the door and the chimney. So it's not surprising that the above-mentioned events happened.

Strangely, what kind of substance is ball lightning? No one can answer this question. There are several hypotheses: some people think that ball lightning is a gas mixture with strong electricity; Others speculate that it is a chemical reactor; Others think it is nitrogen oxides; Some scholars say it is a highly ionized airbag. All the above statements need scientific research to confirm.

The famous phenomenon of spherical lightning

On July 22, 1962, Yuhuangding, Taishan, was in a thunderstorm. In the thunder and lightning, a crimson fireball with a diameter of 15cm ran into the room through the closed glass seam. It fluttered indoors for 3-4 seconds at a speed of 2-3 meters per second, and then escaped from the chimney. One corner of the chimney was cut off in the explosion, and a thermos bottle in the room was shattered under the impact of air billow. On July 25th, 198 1, after a loud thunder, two rare orange fireballs suddenly roared down from the clouds. When they landed in the garden, two fireballs collided and made a loud noise. The dazzling lights make the surroundings look like daytime.

198 1 year, an il-18 plane took off from Sochi in the black sea. At that time, the weather was fine, and the thunderstorm cloud was 40 kilometers away from the flight line. When the plane rose to the height of 1200m, suddenly a fireball with a diameter of about 10cm broke into the cockpit of the plane, making a deafening explosion and then disappeared. But a few seconds later, it reappeared incredibly in the passenger compartment by sealing the metal bulkhead. It floated above the frightened passengers, slowly drifted into the back cabin, split into two bright half-moons, then merged together, and finally left the plane with a little noise. The pilot immediately landed for inspection and found that a hole was drilled in the nose and tail of the plane where spherical lightning came in and out, and radar and other instruments were lost, but the inner wall of the plane and passengers were not damaged.

Judging from the activities of lightning in the sphere in the past, it often appears during thunderstorms or before and after storms, showing a glowing fireball award, and the center is very bright. This kind of fireball is changeable in color, and its diameter is usually 10 ~ 40 cm. The duration of spherical lightning is only a few tens of seconds. It often moves horizontally at a speed of 2 meters per second and stops, sometimes staying in mid-air and sometimes landing on the ground.

Scientists try to uncover the mystery of spherical lightning.

A physicist in the former Soviet Union believed that spherical lightning was a bubble "blown" by lightning. During the thunderstorm, the electric field intensity of the earth increased by 1 1,000 times. It hits the water droplets and even forms a strong field of dendritic lightning around the water droplets, which makes the water droplets expand. However, this requires some foreign substance, such as a grain of dust or sand, to fall into the water droplets. When the resistance of current increases, water is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen burn to form fireballs. If for some reason, the fireball discharges ahead of time, that is, an explosion occurs, and when the charge gradually disappears, the fireball disappears unconsciously. If the air around the fireball is still, the fireball will disappear by itself after a few seconds. It is easy to release lightning, but it is impossible to destroy it. People even shot fireballs with guns, but the fireballs didn't explode. Spherical lightning can fly because its density is close to air and it can move with the surrounding air. Therefore, it is safest to stand still when encountering spherical lightning.

Scientists Abrahamsen and Dennis of Canterbury University in New Zealand believe that spherical lightning is caused by the burning and luminescence of silicon. According to this theory, when the soil is attacked by lightning, it will release silicon-containing nanoparticles into the atmosphere, and the energy of lightning attack will be stored in these nanoparticles in the form of chemical energy. When it reaches a certain high temperature, these particles will oxidize and release energy. When researchers expose soil samples to the same conditions as lightning, they will produce silicon-containing nanoparticles, and the oxidation rate is consistent with the average life cycle of spherical lightning 10 second.

Spherical lightning, also known as electric fireball, is considered as a natural phenomenon related to lightning. It often floats in the air not far from the ground, often bounces back after touching the ground, and the substances it touches will be burnt. Only 1% people claim to have seen ball lightning. Scientists have been studying this rare natural phenomenon since 150 years ago, but they have been unable to reproduce this natural phenomenon in the laboratory and can not explain it well in theory.

Prevention methods of spherical lightning

According to experts, the main way to prevent spherical lightning is to close doors and windows to prevent spherical lightning from drifting into the room; If spherical lightning accidentally floats into the room, don't run, because spherical lightning usually floats with the airflow. If you encounter spherical lightning in the wild, don't move. You can pick up the stones around you and throw them hard to distract the ball lightning, so as not to accidentally hurt the crowd. (comprehensive)