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Ball Lightning Mystery Solved?
January 26, 2007"They also move erratically about the lab, rolling around on the floor, bouncing off objects, and burning whatever they touch."
At first I thought this was an article about Henry, as I often see him rolling around on the floor, and bouncing off objects, and moving erratically. He will often burn whatever he touches too, which is a real hassle since I sit next to him and he keeps borrowing my phone book.
But no, this is an article about ball lightning. Wikipedia has a great article on ball lightning, including an old photo of some ball lightning entering a saloon to get a cold, frosty beer. (I'm firmly convinced that Wikipedia is written by aliens; there's really no other explanation.)
In any event, scientists in Brazil may have solved the ball lightning mystery. To review, the mystery is "Where does it come from? What does it want? Why doesn't it just approach our leaders and try to open a peaceful dialog?" The article really doesn't answer all of these questions to my satisfaction. Apparently silicon is involved. As many people know, silicon occurs naturally in, um, nature and since it's so plentiful it could explain how ball lightning forms just about everywhere, including up-scale saloons.
If you have any questions after reading the article feel free to post them in the comments. I've been contacted by ball lightning and may be able to pass along a question or two.