Ball lightning facts for kids

A 1901 drawing of ball lightning

Ball lightning is a rare and mysterious event. It looks like a glowing ball that can be as small as a pea or several meters wide. Even though it often appears during thunderstorms, it lasts much longer than a quick lightning flash. It's also different from St. Elmo's fire, which is another type of electrical glow.

Some old stories from the 1800s say these balls would explode and leave a smell like sulfur. People have reported seeing ball lightning for hundreds of years. Scientists are very interested in understanding it. In 2014, scientists even published a video and a "light fingerprint" (called an optical spectrum) of what seemed to be a real ball lightning event. Scientists have also created similar glowing effects in labs, but they're not sure if these are the same as natural ball lightning.

What is Ball Lightning Like?

Descriptions of ball lightning are very different from one person to another.

• How it moves: Some say it moves up, down, or sideways. Others say it hovers or moves with or against the wind. It might be attracted to buildings, people, or cars, or it might not be affected at all.
• What it passes through: Some reports say it can go through wood or metal without causing damage. Other times, it's described as melting or burning things.
• Where it appears: It has been seen near power lines, high up in the sky, and during both storms and calm weather.
• How it looks: Ball lightning can be see-through or partially see-through. It can be many colors, glow evenly, or have flames or sparks. Its shape can be a sphere, oval, teardrop, rod, or disk.

It's important to know that ball lightning is often confused with St. Elmo's fire. But they are two completely different things!

• How it ends: These glowing balls can vanish suddenly, fade away slowly, be absorbed into an object, make a popping sound, or even explode loudly. Sometimes, the explosion is strong enough to cause damage.
• Is it dangerous? Stories about how dangerous ball lightning is also vary. Some say it can be deadly, while others say it's harmless.

In 1972, a study looked at many reports of ball lightning. It found some common features, but warned that eyewitness accounts can sometimes be unreliable:

• They often appear right after a lightning strike from a cloud to the ground.
• They are usually round or pear-shaped with blurry edges.
• Their size can be from 1 to 100 centimeters (about 0.4 to 40 inches) wide. Most are about 10 to 20 centimeters (4 to 8 inches) wide.
• They are about as bright as a regular light bulb, so you can see them even in daylight.
• Many colors have been seen, but red, orange, and yellow are the most common.
• They usually last from one second to over a minute, and their brightness stays pretty steady.
• They tend to move a few meters per second, often horizontally. But they can also move up or down, stay still, or move in strange ways.
• Many reports say they spin.
• People rarely feel heat from them, but sometimes when the ball disappears, heat is released.
• Some seem to be drawn to metal objects and can move along wires or metal fences.
• Some have appeared inside buildings, even passing through closed doors and windows.
• Some have appeared inside metal airplanes and left without causing damage.
• When a ball disappears, it's usually fast. It can be silent or make an explosion.
• People often report smells like ozone, burning sulfur, or other chemicals.

Old Stories of Ball Lightning

Ball lightning might be the reason for some old legends about glowing balls, like the Anchimayen in South American cultures.

In 1960, a study suggested that about 5% of people on Earth had seen ball lightning. Another study looked at 10,000 different reports.

Gervase of Canterbury

An English monk named Gervase of Canterbury wrote what might be the oldest known story of ball lightning. It was on June 7, 1195. He wrote that "a marvelous sign came down near London." It was a dark cloud that let out a white substance. This substance grew into a glowing ball under the cloud, and then a fiery globe fell towards the river.

Scientists from Durham University think Gervase's story likely describes ball lightning. They noticed how similar it was to other reports: "Gervase's description of a white substance coming out of the dark cloud, falling as a spinning fiery sphere and then having some horizontal motion is very similar to historic and contemporary descriptions of ball lightning... It is fascinating to see how closely Gervase's 12th century description matches modern reports of ball lightning."

The Great Thunderstorm of Widecombe-in-the-Moor

A drawing from the time of the Widecombe-in-the-Moor storm

One famous old story is about the Great Thunderstorm at a church in Widecombe-in-the-Moor, England, on October 21, 1638. Four people died and about 60 were hurt during a big storm. Witnesses said an 8-foot (2.4-meter) ball of fire hit and entered the church, almost destroying it. Large stones from the church walls were thrown around, and big wooden beams were broken. The ball of fire supposedly smashed the pews and many windows. It filled the church with a bad smell like sulfur and dark, thick smoke.

The ball of fire then reportedly split into two parts. One part went out a window, breaking it. The other disappeared inside the church. Because of the fire and sulfur smell, people at the time thought it was "the devil" or "flames of hell." Later, some blamed the event on two people who were playing cards during the church service, saying they made God angry.

The Ship Catherine and Mary

In December 1726, British newspapers printed a letter from John Howell of the ship Catherine and Mary:

"As we were coming through the Gulf of Florida on August 29th, a large ball of fire fell from the sky and split our mast into ten thousand pieces, if that were possible; it also split our Main Beam, three planks of the side under water, and three of the deck; it killed one man, another had his hand carried off, and if it hadn't been for the heavy rains, our sails would have been a blast of fire."

The Ship Montague

A very large example was reported in 1749 by Admiral Chambers on the ship Montague. He saw a big ball of blue fire about 3 miles (4.8 km) away. It came towards them very fast. Before they could prepare, the ball rose almost straight up, about 40 or 50 yards (36 to 45 meters) from the ship. Then it exploded with a sound as loud as a hundred cannons firing at once. It left a strong sulfur smell. This explosion shattered the main top-mast and sent the main mast down to the bottom of the ship.

Five men were knocked down, and one was badly bruised. Just before it exploded, the ball looked as big as a large mill-stone (a huge grinding stone).

Georg Richmann

In 1753, a report told of a deadly ball lightning event. Professor Georg Richmann in Russia had built a kite-flying device, like the one Benjamin Franklin used. Richmann was at a meeting when he heard thunder. He rushed home with his engraver to record the event. While the experiment was happening, ball lightning appeared. It traveled down the string, hit Richmann's forehead, and killed him. The ball left a red spot on his forehead, his shoes were blown open, and his clothes were burned. His engraver was knocked out. The door frame of the room was split, and the door was torn off its hinges.

The Ship Warren Hastings

An English newspaper reported that during a storm in 1809, three "balls of fire" appeared and "attacked" the British ship HMS Warren Hastings. The crew saw one ball come down, killing a man on deck and setting the main mast on fire. A crewman went to get the fallen body and was hit by a second ball. It knocked him back and gave him mild burns. A third man was killed by touching the third ball. Crew members said there was a strong, sickening sulfur smell afterward.

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, in his 1864 book A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, talked about "globular lightning." He described it as slow-moving balls of fire or explosive gas that sometimes fall to the ground during a thunderstorm. He said the balls sometimes split into smaller ones and might explode "like a cannon".

Wilfrid de Fonvielle

In his book Thunder and Lightning (1875), French science writer Wilfrid de Fonvielle wrote that there had been about 150 reports of globular lightning:

"Globular lightning seems to be especially drawn to metals; so it will look for balcony railings, or water or gas pipes etc. It doesn't have a special color of its own but can appear any color... at Coethen it appeared green. M. Colon, Vice-President of the Geological Society of Paris, saw a ball of lightning slowly come down from the sky along the bark of a poplar tree; as soon as it touched the earth it bounced up again, and disappeared without exploding. On September 10, 1845, a ball of lightning entered the kitchen of a house in the village of Salagnac. This ball rolled across without harming two women and a young man who were there; but when it got into a nearby stable, it exploded and killed a pig that happened to be shut up there, and which, knowing nothing about the wonders of thunder and lightning, dared to smell it in a very rude way.

The movement of such balls is far from being very fast – they have even been seen to pause sometimes, but they are still destructive. A ball of lightning that entered the church of Stralsund, when it exploded, shot out many smaller balls which exploded in their turn like shells."

Tsar Nicholas II

Tsar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, said he saw what he called "a fiery ball" when he was with his grandfather, Emperor Alexander II:

"Once my parents were away, and I was at the all-night vigil with my grandfather in the small church in Alexandria. During the service there was a powerful thunderstorm, streaks of lightning flashed one after the other, and it seemed as if the thunder would shake even the church and the whole world. Suddenly it became quite dark, a blast of wind from the open door blew out the candles in front of the iconostasis, there was a long clap of thunder, louder than before, and I suddenly saw a fiery ball flying from the window straight towards the head of the Emperor. The ball (it was lightning) whirled around the floor, then passed the chandelier and flew out through the door into the park. My heart froze, I looked at my grandfather – his face was completely calm. He crossed himself just as calmly as he had when the fiery ball had flown near us, and I felt that it was wrong and not brave to be frightened as I was. I felt that one only had to look at what was happening and believe in God's mercy, as he, my grandfather, did. After the ball had passed through the whole church, and suddenly gone out through the door, I again looked at my grandfather. A faint smile was on his face, and he nodded his head at me. My panic disappeared, and from that time I had no more fear of storms."

Aleister Crowley

British writer Aleister Crowley said he saw "globular electricity" during a thunderstorm on Lake Pasquaney in New Hampshire, United States, in 1916. He was in a small cottage when he saw:

"...a dazzling globe of electric fire, apparently between 6 and 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) in diameter, was still about 6 inches (15 cm) below and to the right of my right knee. As I looked at it, it exploded with a sharp report quite impossible to confuse with the continuous noise of the lightning, thunder and hail, or that of the lashed water and smashed wood which was creating a huge noise outside the cottage. I felt a very slight shock in the middle of my right hand, which was closer to the globe than any other part of my body."

R. C. Jennison

Jennison, from the University of Kent, wrote about seeing ball lightning in the journal Nature in 1969:

"I was seated near the front of the passenger cabin of an all-metal airliner (Eastern Airlines Flight EA 539) on a late night flight from New York to Washington. The aircraft flew into an electrical storm during which it was surrounded by a sudden bright and loud electrical discharge (0005 h EST, March 19, 1963). Some seconds after this a glowing sphere a little more than 20 cm (8 inches) in diameter came out from the pilot's cabin and passed down the aisle of the aircraft approximately 50 cm (20 inches) from me, staying at the same height and path for the whole distance I could see it."

Other Stories

Ball lightning entering through a chimney (1886)

• Willy Ley talked about a sighting in Paris on July 5, 1852. A tailor living next to the Church of the Val-de-Grâce saw a ball the size of a human head come out of the fireplace. It flew around the room, went back into the fireplace, and exploded, destroying the top of the chimney.
• On April 30, 1877, a ball of lightning entered the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, and left through a side door. Many people saw it, and the event is written on the front wall of Darshani Deori.
• On November 22, 1894, a very long-lasting natural ball lightning event happened in Golden, Colorado. The Golden Globe newspaper reported:

"A beautiful yet strange sight was seen in this city last Monday night. The wind was high and the air seemed to be full of electricity. In front of, above and around the new Hall of Engineering of the School of Mines, balls of fire played tag for half an hour, to the wonder and amazement of all who saw the display."

• On May 22, 1901, in Ouralsk, Russia, "a dazzlingly brilliant ball of fire" slowly came down from the sky during a thunderstorm. It entered a house where 21 people were hiding. It "caused damage in the apartment, broke through the wall into a stove in the next room, smashed the stove-pipe, and carried it off with such force that it was thrown against the opposite wall, and went out through the broken window."
• In July 1907, ball lightning hit the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse in Western Australia. The lighthouse keeper, Patrick Baird, was in the tower and was knocked out. His daughter Ethel wrote about what happened.
• Ley also discussed an event in Bischofswerda, Germany. On April 29, 1925, many witnesses saw a silent ball land near a mailman. It moved along a telephone wire to a school, knocked back a teacher using a telephone, and made perfectly round, coin-sized holes through a glass pane. 700 feet (213 meters) of wire melted, telephone poles were damaged, an underground cable broke, and several workers were thrown to the ground but not hurt.
• An early mention of ball lightning is in a children's book by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In her story, three separate balls of lightning appear during a winter blizzard near a cast-iron stove in the family's kitchen. They are described as appearing near the stovepipe, then rolling across the floor, only to disappear as the mother chases them with a broom.
• Pilots in World War II (1939–1945) described strange lights moving in odd ways. These were called foo fighters, and ball lightning has been suggested as an explanation.
• Submarine crews in World War II often reported small ball lightning inside their submarines. This happened when the battery banks were switched on or off, especially if done incorrectly.
• On August 6, 1994, ball lightning is thought to have gone through a closed window in Uppsala, Sweden. It left a circular hole about 5 cm (2 inches) wide. The hole was found days later. A lightning strike was seen by people in the area and recorded by a lightning tracking system.
• In 2005, in Guernsey, a lightning strike on an aircraft led to many fireball sightings on the ground.
• On July 10, 2011, during a big thunderstorm, a glowing ball with a 2-meter (6.5-foot) tail went through a window into the control room of emergency services in Liberec in the Czech Republic. The ball bounced from the window to the ceiling, then to the floor and back. It rolled along the floor for two or three meters. Then it dropped to the floor and vanished. The staff were scared, smelled electricity and burned wires, and thought something was burning. The computers froze, and all communication equipment stopped working until technicians fixed it. Only one computer monitor was destroyed.
• On December 15, 2014, Loganair Flight 6780 in Scotland saw ball lightning in the front of the plane just before lightning hit the plane's nose. The plane dropped thousands of feet and came within 1,100 feet (335 meters) of the North Sea before landing safely.
• On June 24, 2022, in Austria, a lady saw bright lightning and then a yellowish "burning object with licking flames." It followed a wavy path about 15 meters (50 feet) above the road and disappeared after 2 seconds.

Real Measurements of Natural Ball Lightning

The light fingerprint (spectrum) of a natural ball lightning

In January 2014, scientists in Lanzhou, China, shared what they recorded in July 2012. They accidentally captured the light fingerprint (optical spectrum) of what they think was natural ball lightning. This happened while they were studying regular lightning on the Tibetan Plateau. From 900 meters (2,950 feet) away, they recorded 1.64 seconds of video of the ball lightning and its spectrum. This showed the ball lightning forming after a regular lightning strike and then fading away.

They also used a high-speed camera (3000 frames per second) to record the last 0.78 seconds of the event. Both cameras had special tools to capture the light spectrum. The researchers found light from neutral atoms of silicon, calcium, iron, nitrogen, and oxygen. This was different from the parent lightning, which mostly showed light from ionized nitrogen. The ball lightning moved sideways at about 8.6 meters per second (28 feet per second). It was about 5 meters (16 feet) wide and traveled about 15 meters (50 feet) in 1.64 seconds.

They saw the light intensity and the oxygen and nitrogen light changing at a frequency of 100 hertz. This might have been caused by the electric field of a nearby 50 Hz high-voltage power line. From the light spectrum, they figured out that the ball lightning's temperature was lower than the parent lightning's (which is 15,000 to 30,000 K). This data fits with the idea that the ball lightning might be made from vaporized soil and that it is affected by electric fields.

Lab Experiments

Scientists have tried for a long time to create ball lightning in labs. Some experiments have made things that look like natural ball lightning, but it's not clear if they are the same thing.

Nikola Tesla reportedly could make 1.5-inch (3.8 cm) balls of light and showed them off. Tesla was more interested in high voltages and sending power wirelessly, so the balls he made were just a side curiosity.

Some science groups, like the Max Planck Institute, have said they made a ball lightning-like effect. They did this by sending a high-voltage electric charge into a tank of water.

Why Does Ball Lightning Happen?

Right now, there is no single, widely accepted explanation for ball lightning. Scientists have suggested several ideas since it became a scientific topic in the 1800s.

Nikola Tesla (in December 1899) thought that the balls were made of very thin (but hot) gas.

See also

In Spanish: Rayo globular para niños