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Is ball lightning real?

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Is ball lightning real?
yes, it is 94%  94%  [ 31 ]
no, it isn't 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
What the hell is ball lightning? 6%  6%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 33

zer0netgain
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18 May 2010, 8:49 am

Scientist wrote:
I just came across this article about ball lightning:

New Scientist - Mysterious ball lightning may be a hallucination

I wonder if some really are hallucinations.


New Scientist must employ idiots.

Ball lightening was not only witnessed, but reproduced in a lab.



Ichinin
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18 May 2010, 2:47 pm

zer0netgain wrote:
New Scientist must employ idiots.

Ball lightening was not only witnessed, but reproduced in a lab.



Thats why its called "Popular sciense".

Anyway, i also saw a documentary HERE a few years ago. They did some experiments using a faraday cage.


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fidelis
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31 May 2010, 12:20 am

Ball lightning: A floating ball of light that can electrocute things.

A Will-o-the-Wisp: A floating ball of light that leads people into forests and neither are ever seen again.

I don't see much of a difference here. The myth was created to explain a real phenomenon known as ball lightning. People followed the ball lightning to the woods and when they finally thought it was a good idea to touch it, well, we can infer as to why no one ever saw them again.


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Avarice
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31 May 2010, 3:15 am

I saw a small ball of light appear and vanish near my fish tank once. Not sure what it was though.



nodice1996
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31 May 2010, 8:03 am

Yes, definitely. I've heard firsthand reports of ball lighting from my brother.


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ruveyn
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31 May 2010, 9:16 am

It is as real as rain.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

ruveyn



goodwitchy
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24 Mar 2012, 7:06 pm

I saw ball lightning during a violent storm, many years ago before I knew what had appeared in front of me.

My sister and I used to love to look out the window watching storms; especially the ones with sky to ground lightning. (I still like watching storms).

Through the bedroom window, this lightning sphere appeared and was only a few feet from the window. It was roughly 10 to 12 inches in diameter and seemed to be slowly drifting afloat like a bubble. Neither my sister nor I knew what it was at the time. We watched in shock for two to three seconds before we ran out of the room unable to scream because we were so overcome with fear.

A few years later, I was watching a science tv show and realized what we had seen was ball lightning.



foxfield
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25 Mar 2012, 2:24 pm

zer0netgain wrote:
Scientist wrote:
I just came across this article about ball lightning:

New Scientist - Mysterious ball lightning may be a hallucination

I wonder if some really are hallucinations.


New Scientist must employ idiots.

Ball lightening was not only witnessed, but reproduced in a lab.


Not an idiotic article.

No one knows what causes ball lightning, so they can't possibly know whether they have reproduced it in a lab or not. They may have produced a plasma ball or something that looks like ball lightning, but no one knows whether that is what its nature is in reality.



Joker
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25 Mar 2012, 5:05 pm

Of course ball lightning is real.