title: Charge on luminous bodies resembling natural ball lightning produced via electrical arcs through lump silicon.
abstract: A phenomenon resembling natural ball lightning can be produced via electrical arcing through silicon. We use lump silicon instead of silicon wafers to achieve higher production rates and larger, longer-lived luminous balls than previously reported. The luminous balls consist of a silicon core surrounded by a porous network of loosely bound silicon dioxide nanoparticles. We find that the balls carry a small net charge on the order of 10(-12) C and propose that the nanoparticles are electrostatically bound to the core due to this charge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 97202, USA.
authors.forename: Christina L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 97202, USA.
authors.forename: Galen P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Miley
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 97202, USA.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon 97201, USA.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sánchez