Ball lightning in the lab Available to Purchase

Seen infrequently and never scientifically studied in nature, the meandering globes of light known as ball lightning have nevertheless been reported thousands of times over the past few centuries, usually in the warm summer months when thunderstorms abound. Many dozens of theories have arisen, but few can explain the most puzzling properties of the atmospheric phenomenon—the balls, which can range in size from 1 cm to 1 m, last up to 10 seconds and move unpredictably through the air. They have even entered houses through chimneys and squeezed through small openings. One recent theory says that ball lightning arises from silicon nanoparticles that form in the soil when silicon oxides react with carbon. When a lightning strike vaporizes the oxides into metallic silicon, the vapor subsequently condenses in the air, electrostatically bound and glowing with the heat of oxidation. A team of physicists and chemists in Brazil has now given...