Electric charge of a lightning ball

The electric charge of a lightning ball is found by comparing the electrohydrodynamic stabilities of a charged drop in an electrostatic suspension and a lightning ball floating in a superposition of the gravitational field and the surface electric field. It has been assumed that the electric field s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Technical physics 2016-09, Vol.61 (9), p.1319-1327
Main Authors: Grigor’ev, A. I., Shiryaeva, S. O., Petrushov, N. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classical and Continuum Physics
Density
Electric charge
Electric field strength
Electric fields
Electrohydrodynamics
Gravitational fields
Gravity (Force)
Lightning
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Plasma
Weather
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Summary:The electric charge of a lightning ball is found by comparing the electrohydrodynamic stabilities of a charged drop in an electrostatic suspension and a lightning ball floating in a superposition of the gravitational field and the surface electric field. It has been assumed that the electric field strength at the surface is limited by a breakdown value. For a lightning ball radius of 15 cm, its charge is estimated as several microcoulombs. Accordingly, the density of electrostatic energy accumulated in the lightning ball is on the order of one-hundredth of a joule per square centimeter. The density of the material that constitutes the lightning ball has been estimated for the case when the electric field strength at the site of its origination is several times higher than that in fine weather. The density of the lightning ball turns out to differ from that of air by only a few percents.
ISSN:1063-7842
1090-6525
DOI:10.1134/S1063784216090085