3 ms·

Came up on my feed a few days ago. Looks like convincing ball lightning to me: https://youtu.be/mmOfwFHBu_o https://youtu.be/mmOfwFHBu_o

alberth 1y ago
What’s odd about that video for me is, why didn’t the person zoom in (on the lightning ball)? Seems like human nature would be to zoom in on something of interest.
- JKCalhoun 1y ago
  Cell phone with no zoom? The convincing bit to me is the few frames you see when the ball "collapses".
- deepsun 1y ago
  They do at 0:25
omnibrain 1y ago
Just a few days ago, when those sprite pictures and videos first made their rounds, I thought about ball lightnings. Back in the 90ies I had a physics teacher that was obsessed with them because he saw one as a child. I figured, with the advent of cameras everywhere we would have much more evidence of them by now, but I found almost nothing.
- hermitcrab 1y ago
  >I figured, with the advent of cameras everywhere we would have much more evidence of them by now The prevalence of phone cameras in the modern world has shown that: -Bigfoot doesn't exist. -Police brutality does.
- JKCalhoun 1y ago
  There must be a relevant xkcd....
MisterTea 1y ago
The Doom plasma rifle and BFG no longer appear completely fictional.
spyder 1y ago
It's likely an arcing powerline (see the reddit comments): https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1lrk1rz/incredible_video_captured_during_alberta_storm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1lrk1rz/incredible_...
- MisterTea 1y ago
  Reading through the comments and reviewing the video does indeed point to arcing power lines. Ive seen videos of fast moving arcs across medium voltage lines that looked like a horizontal jacobs ladder. The lines over current protection equipment might not instantly trip as the current might be limited by enough impedance in the equipment. Disappointing reveal.
- JKCalhoun 1y ago
  That sounds plausible.

alberth 1y ago

What’s odd about that video for me is, why didn’t the person zoom in (on the lightning ball)? Seems like human nature would be to zoom in on something of interest.

JKCalhoun 1y ago
Cell phone with no zoom? The convincing bit to me is the few frames you see when the ball "collapses".
deepsun 1y ago
They do at 0:25

omnibrain 1y ago

Just a few days ago, when those sprite pictures and videos first made their rounds, I thought about ball lightnings. Back in the 90ies I had a physics teacher that was obsessed with them because he saw one as a child. I figured, with the advent of cameras everywhere we would have much more evidence of them by now, but I found almost nothing.

hermitcrab 1y ago
>I figured, with the advent of cameras everywhere we would have much more evidence of them by now The prevalence of phone cameras in the modern world has shown that: -Bigfoot doesn't exist. -Police brutality does.
JKCalhoun 1y ago
There must be a relevant xkcd....

MisterTea 1y ago

The Doom plasma rifle and BFG no longer appear completely fictional.

spyder 1y ago

It's likely an arcing powerline (see the reddit comments): https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1lrk1rz/incredible_video_captured_during_alberta_storm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1lrk1rz/incredible_...

MisterTea 1y ago
Reading through the comments and reviewing the video does indeed point to arcing power lines. Ive seen videos of fast moving arcs across medium voltage lines that looked like a horizontal jacobs ladder. The lines over current protection equipment might not instantly trip as the current might be limited by enough impedance in the equipment. Disappointing reveal.
JKCalhoun 1y ago
That sounds plausible.