title: Production of ball-lightning-like luminous balls by electrical discharges in silicon.
abstract: We performed electric arc discharges in pure Si to generate luminous balls with lifetime in the order of seconds and several properties usually reported for natural ball lightning. This simple experiment does not rely on energy sources and excitation mechanisms that are improbable in the natural phenomenon and clearly demonstrates the role of vaporization and oxidation of Si, as proposed by the Abrahamson-Dinniss theory for ball-lightning formation.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Fundamental, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50740-540, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gerson Silva
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Paiva
authors.forename: Antonio Carlos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pavão
authors.forename: Elder
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alpes de Vasconcelos
authors.forename: Odim
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.forename: Eronides Felisberto
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D004560:Electricity; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004735:Energy Transfer; D008030:Lightning; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon