SPINNING ELECTRIC-DIPOLE MODEL OF BALL-LIGHTNING

An analytical solution is spherical geometry of a very rapidly rotating and oscillating electric dipole model of ball lightning is presented. Total current (conduction plus displacement) is assumed to be zero everywhere, resulting in the considerable simplification of no magnetic field. The time averaged electrical force is radial, depends only on radius, and is balanced by a radial plasma pressure gradient. Average energy densities can exceed the external atmospheric pressure by large factors. Objections to the plasmoid explanation of ball lightning based on the virial theorem are therefore satisfactorily dealt with. Compared with alternative explanations of ball lightning, the model has the virtues of simplicity, a straightforward, natural generation mechanism, and no special requirements such as aerogels and the reactive substances of chemical theories.