Ball lightning can range in size from as small as a pea to basketball size or larger. It can range in color (red, blue, green, and yellow) or appear translucent and can travel in any direction and appear to float through the air. Ball lightning sometimes seems to defy the laws of gravity. Ball lightning can be seen in the presence of electrical storms, windstorms, tornadoes or rolling in off the sea but more curious is when ball lightning appears in the absence of stormy weather.
Ball lightning last much longer than regular lightning and seems to disperse in many ways such as simply disappearing, exploding, dissipate slowly or even exit through windows or doors. Some are harmless but others can be dangerous or even deadly.
Through history, there have been many reports of ball lightning in many cultures. Says John Abrahamson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, “[There are] around 10,000 written accounts of observations covering many countries with similar properties recurring in many observations". In 1753, Georg Richman of Russia was conducting an electrical experiment and was struck in the forehead by a luminous ball and was killed. Also, WWII pilots saw strangely moving balls of light. They nicknamed them “Foo Fighters” and at first thought they may be enemy technology but are now believed to be ball lightning.
Researchers are still studying ball lightning and its mysteries and have now been able to create ball lightning in a laboratory setting.
