New Model Details Internal Electromagnetic Mechanism That Allows Ball Lightning to Self-Stabilize

Abstract

The strange natural phenomena, ball lightning, is rich in mythology, but remains a mystery after centuries of scientific
effort. Detailed eyewitness accounts describe luminous bubbles with diameters of a few centimeters to several meters
that have been observed alongside lightning, typically moving horizontally, sometimes passing through windows and
aircraft walls, and dissipating sometimes silently or violently after a lifetime of a few seconds. Using an electromagnetic
model for ball lightning, this paper provides an analysis of the internally generated forces that can hold the ball lightning
sphere together, specifically how three orthogonal electromagnetic waves propagating inside of a conducting “bubble”
of free-floating charge are capable of providing the forces necessary to counteract the expanding forces generated by
the bubble of charge itself. The spherical boundary conditions will be described including how they determine the
allowable field shapes of the trapped propagating waves and that the forces acting on the sphere’s boundary are
uniform.