One of the most interesting hypotheses about the origin of ball lightning links this mysterious phenomenon not to a separate type of plasma, but to material from the ground itself. According to this version, an ordinary lightning strike vaporizes soil particles, after which they oxidize and glow for some time. However, physicists do not yet consider this model a universal explanation for ball lightning.

Mysterious glowing spheres

Ball lightning remains one of the most difficult atmospheric phenomena to study. Eyewitnesses usually describe a glowing object ranging in size from a few centimeters to several tens of centimeters, which appears during a thunderstorm or shortly after a normal lightning strike and exists for fractions of a second to several seconds.

The problem is that most reports are based specifically on eyewitness observations. An unusual glowing object can easily be mistaken for an electric arc, a brief flash, a light reflection, or even a retinal afterimage.

Therefore, even a detailed account by itself cannot be considered strict scientific proof of the existence of a specific physical mechanism.

At the same time, ball lightning has been observed not only by people. There are also instrumental recordings that make it possible to study it directly.

What happened after a lightning strike in China

One of the best-known cases occurred in China in 2012 and was described by researchers in 2014 in Physical Review Letters. After an ordinary lightning strike hit the ground, scientists simultaneously recorded a moving glowing object using a video camera and spectrographs.

Its spectrum turned out to be especially important. It revealed lines of silicon, iron, and calcium — elements found in soil.

This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that lightning can vaporize part of the ground at the point of impact. The resulting particles then react with oxygen, and the energy released in the process may sustain the glow of the substance for some time.

Such a mechanism explains why a glowing object can appear immediately after a lightning strike and why elements from the Earth's surface are detected in its spectrum.

But a single observation is not enough to consider this hypothesis conclusively confirmed.

Ball lightning may have several mechanisms

Physicists are also considering other possible explanations. These include plasma formations sustained by an external electric or electromagnetic field, microwave radiation trapped inside a plasma оболочка, burning aerosols made of nanoparticles, as well as corona and surface electrical discharges.

Some of these phenomena have been reproduced in laboratories. Researchers have created glowing plasma and aerosol formations that outwardly resembled ball lightning.

However, it has not yet been possible to reproduce under controlled conditions the full set of properties attributed to natural ball lightning.

Why the mystery remains unsolved

According to Nikolai Zenchenko, senior lecturer at the Department of Physics and Technical Mechanics at RTU MIREA, the term “ball lightning” may actually refer to several different processes at once.

That is why the observation by the Chinese researchers is important, but does not fully solve the problem. It shows that the vaporization of soil after a lightning strike really can create a glowing object with characteristics similar to some reported ball lightning observations.

But it is still unknown whether this mechanism explains all such cases or only some of them. Science still lacks a unified physical model that could reproduce all the observed properties of ball lightning and prove that this is the exact process occurring in the atmosphere.