Observation of Lightning Ball (Ball Lightning): A new phenomenological description of the phenomenon

Abstract

The author (physicist)has observed the very strange,beautiful and frightening Lightning Ball (LB). He has never forgotten this phenomenon. During his working life he could not devote himself to the problem of LB-formation.Only two years ago as he has been reading different unbelievable models of LB-formation, he decided to work on this problem. By studying the literature and the crucial points of his observation the author succeeded in creating a completely new model of Lightning Ball(LB) and Ball Lightning(BL)-formation based on the symmetry breaking of the hydrodynamic vortex ring.This agrees fully with the observation and overcomes the shortcomings of current models of LB formation. This model provides answers to the questions: Why are LBs so rarely observed,why do BLs in rare cases have such a high energy and how can we generate LB in the laboratory? Moreover the author differentiates between LB and BL, the latter having a high energy and occuring in 5 % of the observations. Keywords: ball lightning, hydrodynamic vortex ring, symmetry breaking, electroluminescence, triboelectrification.