Re: Anyone ever successful with Ball Lightning generationhere. . . .

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "S & J Young by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<youngs-at-konnections-dot-net>


> Lightning
> balls have been reported to last as long as 30 s on submarines during WW II,
> where high current switches are employed to transfer power between
> batteries, or between batteries and generators.  

> Golka uses a 150-kW transformer capable of providing 10,000 A at 15-V 60
> cycles; thick 1-in. stranded wire leading into a plastic tank with water;
> and a 1/4-in. thick 4 ¥ 6-in. aluminum plate. The wire and plate are short
> circuited about 1/4 in. below the surface of the water and this produces 1/4
> in. dia. fireballs. They sizzle and hiss and skim around on the surface,
> occasionally taking to the air and leaving spiraling smoke trails that
> suggest the balls are spinning.
> Golka has seen these fireballs dance onto the floor and he reports them hot
> to the touch. Their color is white with an aluminum electrode and yellow
> with iron.

	I thought Golka also used a bank of submarine batteries to produce
similar effects.  Molten metal balls sure skip around.

> There is no theory for ball lightning, although in Golka's case his
> fireballs consume the aluminum and may obtain their energy from the burning
> of the metal.
> Those readers who have witnessed ball lightning are invited to send me a
> paragraph about their experience.
> Contacts:
> ? Igor Alexeff, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Tennessee,
> Knoxville, TN 37996.
-dot-com/weird/unusual/bl.html
> Project Tesla

	You will observe something similar if you short the home power line
with something (like a screwdriver, which is never quite the same
again).  Molten drops of copper will skip along the floor leaving
several small burn marks before the last and biggets one.

Ed