ball-lightening in lab experiment

A 1mF capacitor is discharged abruptly and the current heats a small water bubble. The bubble becomes so hot that it turns into plasma (dissociated charges). The plasma ball rises and dissolves quickly. For a moment it looks like a ball-lightening.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Kugelblitz
• Kilojoule entladung
• discharge experiment
• ball-lightening

[TXs14]

I'm curious on how to create this and involved safety precautions. Can you point me in any directions?



[cercasi9]

@TXs14 Safety precautions: Do this only when you exactly know what you're doing. There is high voltage _and_ a lot of energy stored in the Capacitor. A potentially deadly combination. We grounded everything right up to the point of charging the cap, when only one person was allowed to control the experiment. We had a long plastic stick with which we made the connection for the current to flow. After discharge or error, every piece was grounded before anybody was allowed to touch anything.

[Pentagon1337]

Cool video man! :) Ball lightning is a really interesting phenomenon! How much voltage did you use?

[cercasi9]

@Pentagon1337 Voltage of 4kV was sufficient. The only part that is difficult to obtain is a capacitor that tolerates a voltage like this, but also has a high capacity (about 0.5 mF)

[Pentagon1337]

@cercasi9 Thanks for the information! l saw the exact same experiment on a show called ''weird connections''. A scientist used ''almost 5000 volts'' and created a ball lightning that lasted just over a second, perhaps the more voltage you use the longer the ball-lightning remains? l do recall them saying ''The more electricity, and the less water you use, the better the outcome''. lt was kind of vague. Can you confirm this?

[cercasi9]

@Pentagon1337 Possibly more voltage leads to a longer losting ball, but that's just speculation. The Energy stored in a capacitor is 1/2*U*U*C (so, two times the voltage means four times the energy). We had a limitation on the capacitor (rated for 3.2kV only, so 5kV was the maximum we tried), more wasn't possible. Less water is something we didn't try, I cant commment on it. But what made a huge difference is putting salt in the water (makes the ball yellow and bright).PS:Our ball lasts for 0.3s

[Pentagon1337]

@cercasi9 Thanks for the information man!