Typical diameter3 tenths m
6.1 hundredthsCanoes
215 trillionthsSun diameters
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Ball Lightning
The rare glowing orb that science still cannot fully explain/Weather & Climate
Ball lightning is one of the most mysterious atmospheric phenomena. Witnesses describe a luminous sphere, typically 10 to 50 centimeters in diameter, that floats through the air for several seconds before vanishing, sometimes with an explosion. Reports date back centuries, but it was only captured on video by Chinese researchers in 2012 during a thunderstorm on the Tibetan Plateau. Proposed explanations range from plasma vortices to silicon nanoparticles, but no single theory accounts for all observed characteristics. It remains one of the last genuinely unexplained weather phenomena.
Measurements
Estimated surface temperature5,000 K
2.78Molten steel pours
1.36Welding arcs
Typical duration5 s
1.9 thousandthsOil changes
852 quintillionthsMesozoic eras
Typical drift speed2 m/s
1.8 tenthsCity buses
3.3 tenthsSailing boats
154Garden snails
Estimated energy content10,000 J
16.7 sextillionUV photons
1.3 tenthsAlkaline D batteries
2.4 thousandthsTNT sticks
Observation height above ground1.5 m
2.5 tenthsBoxing ring sides
9.2iPhone Pro Maxes