NicronusPrime
857
22
3
So there was a hell of a storm here this morning and my roof got hit by lightning, which bizarrely killed my modem but seems to have done no other damage. That's not the interesting part though.
Very, very briefly, right before the lightning hit, a small glowing ball appeared just above the floor in the middle of my bedroom and then vanished with an incredibly loud SNAP noise. I'd really like to know what the hell that was, as it spooked the hell out of both me and my cat.
So if you're one of those sciencey or engineeringy type people, please help a dumbarse bloke out and lob some knowledge my way. My attempts at googling have been less productive than arguing about dinner time with my cat.
drwarp
May have been a Ball Lightening, which is a different MtG card... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning#:~:text=They%20tend%20to%20move%20at,and%20left%20without%20causing%20damage
beemarr
Perhaps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning
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NicronusPrime
1.21 jiggawatts??!?!?!!?
BerzerkerRaege
Sounds like ball lightning.
reichtwinglunatic
apparently we have it on video now too, which is awesome. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmOfwFHBu_o
AyatollahBahloni
When I was a kid in the '60s, ball, lightning was widely recognized as being a myth or a hoax. Hoax. Nowadays it seems pretty well documented. Sounds like ball lightning to me.
friendsofsandwiches
When lightning starts to hit, it first tries to find passage to the ground, and the ground tries to find passage to the sky, or the other charge. In several places, these energy build ups can become highly charged, even though they're not fully connected yet. Likely you were right next to one of the charge spots. Thankfully it didn't fully connect where you were at. But yeah, the charge can manifest as ball lightning while it's figuring things out.
NicronusPrime
well that's terrifying. damn glad it was such a tiny ball, from what i've read.
CrazedDrifter
https://imgur.com/w3WuHAb
SpaceballsTheComment
*sniff* I still miss my first RDW deck.
Rynath
No doubt it's been a minute.
medimr
Only thing I've heard of like this is St. Elmo's fire. Might have been some similar phenomenon. Or might have been something completely different, since I know next to nothing about this in the first place.
CheeseCoffeeChests
Lucky MF. Ball lightnings are a rare and afaik not completly understood phenomenon.
ThatOtherGirlYouKnow
When its thundering high
And there's lightning oh my
That's ball lightning
When an energy sphere
Comes frighteningly near
That's ball lightning
When the strange ball glows
Then with a big bang it goes
That's ball lightning
Scusa me, but you see
Round electricity
That's ball lightning
NicronusPrime
Incredible! Brava, brava!
ThatOtherGirlYouKnow
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1YnQ1bXpja3c0amc5eDVwdW42bmxmY2cxM2tkOTFwZWh0aDVicDgzbyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/KxhMgiklWomI1iUpFU/200w.webp
CaldariBob
The lightning caused your grandmother's ghost to temporarily manifest & flee your bedroom. She's probably back by now.
NicronusPrime
christ. well as long as she doesn't tell the rest of my family where I am, I'm won't call in the local equivalent of the ghostbusters.
CaldariBob
The dead are very untrustworthy...
evilspock
Ball lightning.
But about the modem - it's *NOT* uncommon for a lightning strike to take out one piece of electronics - and leave others untouched. The lightning is looking to find a path to ground - and once it does, it favors that path.
Power strips with fuses. It;s not 100%, but it's a lot easier to replace a power strip than hardware.
NicronusPrime
Everything's grounded here, all aussie plugs have a ground wire. and my powerboards do have surge protectors. the modem dying with none of those tripping or anything else going wrong is strange, but nowhere near as strange as the orb.
evilspock
Lightning *laughs* at your ground wire, which is designed to prevent human beings from electrocution due to faulty wiring. The current of the lightning strike is many many orders of magnitude higher than grounding wires can handle - honestly, distance to a large electrical sink is more important. The lightning might vaporize a grounding wire on a whim, but the fact that your modem is on a metal desk near a metal pipe on the other side of the wall may be more important
evilspock
I should clarify: lightning laughs at power strips with fuses too. You're gambling you are far enough away and making an offering to the lightning gods. But lots of ugly electrical fun isn't lightning, and the power strips will help there.
GBMaker
Probably a positive streamer. Charged clouds induce a large opposite charge in the ground before striking:
GBMaker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucTXRmgoyTo
NicronusPrime
Hmm, maybe, but it was definitely a little glowing ball, not a line, and it made an extremely loud snap noise. like whip crack volume.
GBMaker
I'm tempted to say ball lightning, except is doesn't fit the classical definition. I'm more inclined to say it was a positive streamer with its plasma contained by something in your house, like copper wiring or other metal structures.
NicronusPrime
hmm, it was a meter or so away from my pedestal fan, about 15 to 20cm above the tiles.
NicronusPrime
Ball Lightning seems a bit weird for "not quite the outback" north-eastern australia, but it also appears to be the closest potential explanation, so thanks everyone!
Nbiakro
It's a guess at best, because there is no explanation or even data about ball lightning. I have no explanation either though. Electricity is just fucking wild
NicronusPrime
It really is. Bloody spooky at times too.
Nbiakro
There's this static build up before lightning strikes. My best guess is that's what you saw briefly before it happened
NicronusPrime
Static buildup found a random floating ball of cat fluff, perhaps?
Nbiakro
Sure why not :)
seenunseen
Should always have your tech plugged in to a grounded outlet or surge protector. You got ball lightning. Pretty lucky for the experience and to nor be harmed
NicronusPrime
All outlets in Australia are grounded, it's why our plugs have a 3rd hole. also my powerboards have surge protectors.
seenunseen
Didn't know that. In the u.s., most older houses only have grounded outlets in the kitchen.
NicronusPrime
anything built post 1960 had to have ground wires installed as standard, anything that wasn't heritage listed got retrofitted over the next couple of decades. I've heard the change was made after a bunch of house fires, but don't quote me on it.