Letters

Properties of ball lightning generated by a pulsed discharge on surface of an electrolyte in the atmosphere

  1. Noriyuki Hayashi Member1,*,
  2. Hiroko Satomi Student Member2,
  3. Toshinori Kajiwara Member2,
  4. Tetsuo Tanabe Non-member1

Article first published online: 27 OCT 2008

DOI: 10.1002/tee.20336

Issue

IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering

IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Special Issue: Special Issue on Electronics, Information and Systems

Volume 3, Issue 6, pages 731–733, November 2008

Additional Information

How to Cite

Hayashi, N., Satomi, H., Kajiwara, T. and Tanabe, T. (2008), Properties of ball lightning generated by a pulsed discharge on surface of an electrolyte in the atmosphere. IEEJ Trans Elec Electron Eng, 3: 731–733. doi: 10.1002/tee.20336

Author Information

  1. 1

    Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga-shi, 816-8580, Japan

  2. 2

    Faculty of Engineering, Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka-shi, 811-0295, Japan

*Kyushu University, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Laboratories of Electrical Engineering, 6-1 Kasuga-kohen, Kasuga-shi, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 27 OCT 2008
  2. Article first published online: 27 OCT 2008
  3. Manuscript Revised: 11 JUN 2008
  4. Manuscript Received: 15 MAY 2008

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Keywords:

  • ball lightning;
  • long-lived plasmoid;
  • pulsed discharge;
  • electrolyte;
  • surface discharge;
  • size;
  • lifetime

Abstract

A simple reactor system, which involved a pulsed discharge occurring on the surface of an electrolyte in the atmosphere, was installed to generate ball lightning (BL), and BL with a lifetime of 0.5 s and a size of 250 mm maximum was observed. Meanwhile, a single current pulse with the peak value up to 90 A and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 5–62 ms appears immediately after the system was triggered. It is concluded that such a long-life BL is maintained without the external supply of electrical energy, since BL is visible for a significantly longer time than the current pulse duration. It is found that a power law with the scaling exponent of 2/3 can be applied between the lifetime and size of the BL, independently of the experimental conditions. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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