What is Digg?56 Comments
- aschmack, on 10/12/2007, -2/+30@mrblack
Right, because you finish so fast. - mogus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Does it concern anyone else that the "Lightning Balls" are allowed to just bounce around the floor over electrical cords, by the kid with flip-flops, etc...? It seems like you'd want something that energetic at least partially contained.
- brutalentropy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17@newscoop
you're such a douche.
Also, your websites and myspace profile are the most annoying things I've ever seen. Multiple videos that all start when the page loads, makes it so you can't hear a damn thing.
EDIT: Oh, your digg account got banned. Please take the hint this time, and don't create another account (since I know you've gone through like 40 at this point. Asshat.)
EDIT again: And now the comment got deleted. I swear I'm not crazy, it was there a minute ago. - sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14"while in another report, a similar orb bounced on a Russian teacher's head more than 20 times before vanishing."
20 times? What the hell? I'd run screaming like a little schoolgirl if one of those bounced on my head. - itistoday, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16kaaaaaaaaa..... mmmmeeeeee....... HHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- ttyler1999, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDU-6opEqA - Pix869, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17They aren't fooling me. I see that Pikachu in the background.
Science my ass, that's cheating. - JeremyBanks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I thought ball lightning (in nature) was something we knew almost nothing about.
- mumblingmynah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Video doesn't work in my browser. Somebody put it up on youtube or something, please.
- dasilva333, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8does anyone see the weapon potential in this? imagine a lighting cannon gun! the future iscoming!
- yubpro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Nasa blew up their fair share of rockets too...
- RandomSkratch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5nono I think mannymix03 is right (along with JeremyBanks). I just read something 2 days ago about ball lightning and that it does not emit heat. (Or if it does, a very very minute amount)
- Bob042, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"The balls were able to melt plastic, and one even burned a hole in Paiva's jeans."
That sounds very safe, I don't know what you're talking about... - Lokix, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14At the risk of sounding racist, I don't generally think of safety and Brazil together. Dunno why...
Cool stuff, though. - fatcat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The balls, although still small, lasted long enough to come into the mainstream. Tee Hee
But in all seriousness, this is something that has fascinated me since i first herd about them. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3now you need to get removable cells with silicon waffers and a cartridge system loading into a hand held unit.
plasma rifle - GloverCom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Oh... There you are... We got your Darwin Award nomination by mistake. Please post your new address so I can forward the notification...
- JMellissa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Jerry Lee Lewis said it first and he said it best:
"Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire" - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Make them last about 3 minutes and provide a portable linear accelerator to launch them at Mach 2 and then US DOD will pay for all your research.
- masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ball lightning acts very erratically and generally floats around slowly seemingly randomly until it finds something electrical, in which case it absorbs itself into said electrical device with a loud POP!
If you're thinking of an electrical gun, they currently do exist. They're called Railguns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=railgun - Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4When they were doing the WW2 atomic experiments, they handled hemispheres of plutonium that they kept separated with a dang knife while they were testing for critical limits. Once a guy dropped the knife and killed himself in a criticality accident. Look it up.
- seeohpee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Dugg because the guy wore flip flops while a 3140 degree Fahrenheit ball of lightning bounced around near his feet. Silly Brazilians.
- MrBilly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have created something like this a few years back when i was researching ball lightening. Try this with an old microwave (it will ruin it)!!!!!!!!!! Also do not do this inside your house! Do it outside with an extension cord! I got a microwave for like 10 bucks at good will.
1. Take out rotating plate thing in microwave if it has one.
2. Take a pencil and cut off the eraser. (You can also use a tooth pick but it wont last as long)
3. Stick the pencil or toothpick into a piece of clay in the center of the microwave
4. Set the microwave on HIGH for 60 seconds
5. light the top of the pencil or toothpick on fire
6. Quickly close the door and push the START button
7. Wait a few seconds and the fire will suddenly shoot up in a big flash.
About 15 seconds in, it should continue sputtering large flames and if your lucky, the flames should turn blue or purple.
Then you may see the flames turn into something that has been theorized to be plasma (looks like ball lightening). I have seen it take the shape of an "orb" and dance around the top of the microwave until it looks as if is heading towards the vent. I also remember seeing this thing go "through" the door of the microwave. YOU MAY WANT TO STAND BACK. Scariest/ Coolest thing Ive created at my house. Anyone else try this.
Also you can do some neat stuff with grapes. Look it up on youtube. "plasma and grapes" - ThaCapn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2RRR Red
Creature
6/1
Trample. Haste.
Sacrifice Ball Lightning at the end of turn. - Protoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Heh...When I read that they were able to bounce it off of walls, I thought of the 'Energy Orbs' from Half-Life 2.
- sjbdallas, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Oh, LIGHTNING balls. I read that as LIGHTING balls and was wondering why they would do that to a dude.
- Valarauka, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Cast.
What spell do you wish to cast?
You attempt to cast the spell "Ball Lightning".
The spell fizzles...
It hits! It hits! It hits! You die. - thiagoleon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It seems the digg effect again, not only the video but the site hosting it is too slow... I couldn't see it either :(
- david76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Wow, they've created ghosts out of thin air.
- stonebear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We don’t know if this is the same phenomenon Tesla was working with.
- rompom7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Video seems to be down, did anyone manage to YouTube it before it died?
- Tazmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Look up a "Tesla coil". That is basically what is inside the globe of glass.
Nevermind. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil - cosmicr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1spellbinder!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Im thinking plasma guns like in starwars :D
- mistamoni, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It only makes sense... considering Blanka's also from Brazil...
- carlosglz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1YouTube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDU-6opEqA - 93ex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"When they were doing the WW2 atomic experiments, they handled hemispheres of plutonium that they kept separated with a dang knife while they were testing for critical limits. Once a guy dropped the knife and killed himself in a criticality accident. Look it up."
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=102 for the whole article - kloo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ASMD shock combos here we come!
- Knoton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Combine energy balls FTW!
- miggz06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1New record for the longest post ever goes too...
Very interesting article, hope it can lead to some good not just weapons. - Shuk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But what's the casting time and DPS?
- mannymix03, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4they say that they have a temp of about 2000 calvin, i thought ball lightning (in nature) emitted no heat
- tripple-breve, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1King Kong's balls? I thought you meant ping pong balls.
- bcimhe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1this exciting "discovery" was made by tesla during his lifetime. in fact, he far surpassed the technique of this group, seeming to gain control of ball lightning that lasted much longer.
- zgystardst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Those balls behave in a very interesting way. However, they aren't floating like ball lightning supposedly does, so I don't think they're related.
- saznap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Looks like some sparks falling from a welder to me?
- Bullsnot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I was thinking more along storage potential. If they can keep the ball of electricity mantained in a magnetic trap can it be a future battery tech?
- erichj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There are three companies pursuing hydrogen-boron plasma toroid fusion, Paul Koloc, Prometheus II, Eric Lerner, Focus Fusion and Clint Seward of Electron Power Systems http://www.electronpowersystems.com/ . A resent DOD review of EPS technology reads as follows:
"MIT considers these plasmas a revolutionary breakthrough, with Delphi's
chief scientist and senior manager for advanced technology both agreeing
that EST/SPT physics are repeatable and theoretically explainable. MIT and
EPS have jointly authored numerous professional papers describing their
work. (Delphi is a $33B company, the spun off Delco Division of General
Motors)."
and
"Cost: no cost data available. The complexity of reliable mini-toroid
formation and acceleration with compact, relatively low-cost equipment
remains to be determined. Yet the fact that the EPS/MIT STTR work this
technology has attracted interest from Delphi is very significant, as the
automotive electronics industry is considered to be extremely demanding of
functionality per dollar and pound (e.g., mil-spec performance at
Wal-Mart-class 'commodity' prices)."
EPS, Electron Power Systems seems the strongest and most advanced, and I love the scalability, They propose applications as varied as home power generation@ .ooo5 cents/KWhr, cars, distributed power, airplanes, space propulsion , power storage and kinetic weapons.
It also provides a theoretic base for ball lighting : Ball Lightning Explained as a Stable Plasma Toroid http://www.electronpowersystems.com/Images/Ball%20Lightning%20Explained.pdf
The theoretics are all there in peer reviewed papers. It does sound to good to be true however with names like MIT, Delphi, STTR grants, NIST grants , etc., popping up all over, I have to keep investigating.
Recent support has also come from one of the top lightning researcher in the world, Joe Dwyer at FIT, when he got his Y-ray and X-ray research published in the May issue of Scientific American,
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=00032CE5-13B7-1264-8F9683414B7FFE9F
Dwyer's paper:
http://www.lightning.ece.ufl.edu/PDF/Gammarays.pdf
and according to Clint Seward it supports his lightning models and fusion work at Electron Power Systems
Clint sent Joe and I his new paper on a lightning charge transport model of cloud to ground lightning (he did not want me to post it to the web yet). Joe was supportive and suggested some other papers to consider and Clint is now in re-write.
It may also explain Elves, blue jets, sprites and red sprites, plasmas that appear above thunder storms. After a little searching, this seemed to have the best hard numbers on the observations of sprites.And may also explain the spiral twist of some fulgurites, hollow fused sand tubes found in sandy ground at lightning strikes.
Dr. Mark A. Stanley's Dissertation
http://nis-www.lanl.gov/~stanleym/dissertation/main.html
lightning produces thermonuclear reaction
This new work By Dr.Kuzhevsky on neutrons in lightning: Russian Science News http://www.informnauka.ru/eng/2005/2005-09-13-5_65_e.htm is also supportive of Electron Power Systems fusion efforts .
Vincent Page (a technology officer at GE!!) gave a presentation at the 05 6th symposium on current trends in international fusion research , which high lights the need to fully fund three different approaches to P-B11 fusion (Below Is an excerpt).
He quotes costs and time to development of P-B11 Fusion as tens of million $, and years verses the many decades and ten Billion plus $ projected for ITER and other "Big" science efforts:
"for larger plant sizes
Time to small-scale Cost to achieve net if the small-scale
Concept Description net energy production energy concept works:
Koloc Spherical Plasma: 10 years(time frame), $25 million (cost), 80%(chance of success)
Field Reversed Configuration: 8 years $75 million 60%
(Eric Lerner)Plasma Focus: 6 years $18 million 80%"
Looks like Eric Lerner is moving down the road!!
U.S., Chilean Labs to Collaborate on Testing Scientific Feasibility of Focus Fusion http://pesn.com/2006/03/18/9600250_LPP_Chilean_Nuclear_Commission/
The learning curve is so steep now, and with the resources of the online community, I'm sure we can rally greater support to solve this paramount problem of our time. I hold no truck with those who argue that big business or government are suppressing these technologies. It is only our complacency and comfort that blind us from pushing our leaders toward clean energy.
This post is a plea to the science writers among you to craft a story covering aneutronic fusion, the P-B11 efforts, Eric's Billion degree temperatures and x-ray source project, Clint's lightning theories, and DOD review, and Paul's review by GE. The minimal cost and time frame for even the possibility of this leap forward seems criminal not to pursue. I am wondering why this technology has never been put in the public eye. - 0x0000ff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Well, I got it.
- kTuck, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Goodness Gracious Great Balls of... Lighting?
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