"FIRE BALLS."

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 155, 1 July 1907, Page 5

"FIRE BALLS."

AN UNCOMMON PHENOMENON.

SOME STARTLING EXPERIENCES.

The Sydney "Daily Telegraph " of June 20 says—" The unpleasant visitation of a "fire ball" at a house in Paddington during a thunderstorm soon after midnight on Tuesday, and the observation of another an hour later has added importance to what has for a long time been an interesting point in meteorological research. As to what occurred at Paddington, Mr. W. Poole of Glebe-street, informed a "Daily Telegraph" representative that he does not wish to go through the same experience again "for any money." The ball is described as having struck the ground near the back window, and then risen aud shattered a pane of glass. The fluid then passed through the bedroom door and along the passage into the front bedroom, where Mrs. Poole and her baby slept. The two large panes of the front window were smashed, and the noise is likened to the report of a big gun. For a few moments the house waa dazzlingly illuminated, and the general effect was awe-inspiring, although no damage beyond the splintering of the two windows was done. The head of the bed in the back room was only a few inches from the pane of glass through which the lightning found" its way. Mr. Poole is satisfied that he and his two children, who were in the back room, had a very narrow escape. About the second one there is little to be said excepting that it was seen by one of the officials of the observatory who resides at the Glebe, and waa watching the storm from that place. The official record is that the officer referred to saw the fire ball at 1.35, a.m. on Wednesday, and it was then moving in a north-easterly direction with aii undulatory motion. It was accompanied by. a hissing, and left a dull grey flame behind. What became of it is still a mystery, but considering the direction in which it was travelling the theory is advanced that it must have finally gone out to sea or fallen in the bush on the coast of Manly. So rare are such occurrences that one is tempted to ask, " What is a fireball! "

The answer so far as the imperfect scientific data on the subject goes, was supplied yesterday by Mr. Noble. He explained that a "fireball" is variously described—sometimes as such, sometimes as " ball lightning." and more familiarly as a '" thunderbolt." Various theories have been put forward to account for them, but according to one of the best authorities—Professor Davies, of Harvard University—" no satisfactory explanation has yet been given." Another American scientist, Professor Thomas Russel, has, however, ventured an explicit opinion. He did so before Professor Davis dealt with the subject, and his ideas have not been universally accepted. What he did advance is nevertheless interesting. He says " Ball lightning is a slowly-moving bill of fire, which finally explodes. It occurs when not only the potential of the electricity concerned in the production of lightning is great, but when the quantity of electricity is also great. Ball lightning," the professor adds. " can be produced experimentally on a small scale by sending a current from a dynamo through water contained in a glass. In Nature it occurs d-uxing thunderstorms, mostly in wet places along the ground, and only at times when. there are,great downpours of rain."

The scientific explanation of it, according to Professor Russel, is that it consists of a globe of incandescent rarefied air, and comes from the decomposition of the vapour of water. The ruddy hue is characteristic of electrical discharges through hydrogen. The least current of air changes the spherical form of the " ball."