Ball lightning: An elusive force of nature

Abstract

Ball Lightning (BL) is a metastable, rare phenomenon and one of the most unusual and controversial. Reports have been numerous and varied, and have fascinated and perplexed researchers for centuries. Ball lightning has proved impossible to predict and is extremely difficult to document in the natural environment. Laboratory attempts at simulation have been challenging. However, much discussion has been detailed in the literature and countless laboratory experiments presented. Ball lightning has been witnessed indoors, outdoors, and from the skies by aviation professionals and passengers. Critics claim the phenomenon does not exist. It has been discounted as hallucinations, misidentification, and folklore. This chapter examines theory and development, along with historical and contemporary discussion of the phenomenon.