DocumentCode :
5360
Title :
Ball Lightning Events Explained as Self-Stable Spinning High-Density Plasma Toroids or Atmospheric Spheromaks
Author :
Seward, Clint
Author_Institution :
Electron Power Syst., Inc., Acton, MA, USA
Volume :
2
fYear :
2014
fDate :
2014
Firstpage :
153
Lastpage :
159
Abstract :
Spinning plasma toroids, or spinning spheromaks, are reported as forming in partial atmosphere during high-power electric arc experiments. They are a new class of spheromaks because they are observed to be stable in partial atmosphere with no confining external toroidal magnetic fields, and are observed to endure for more than 600 ms. Included in this paper is a model that explains these stable plasma toroids (spheromaks); they are hollow plasma toroids with a thin outer shell of electrons and ions that all travel in parallel paths orthogonal to the toroid circumference - in effect, spiraling around the toroid. These toroids include sufficient ions to neutralize the space charge of the electrons. This model leads to the name Electron Spiral Toroid Spheromak (ESTS). The discovery of this new class of spheromaks resulted from work to explain ball lightning. A comparison is made between the experimental observations of spheromaks in partial atmosphere and reported ball lightning observations; strong similarities are reported. The ESTS is also found to have a high ion density of ~ 1019 ions/cm3 without needing any external toroidal magnetic field for containment, compared, for example, to tokamaks, with ion density limits of ~ 1015 ions/cm3. This high ion density is a defining characteristic and opens the potential to be useful in applications. The ESTS is a field reversed configuration plasma toroid.
Keywords :
ion density; lightning; plasma density; reversed field pinch; Electron Spiral Toroid Spheromak; atmospheric spheromaks; ball lightning events; field reversed configuration plasma toroid; high ion density; partial atmosphere; self-stable spinning high-density plasma toroids; spinning spheromaks; Atmospheric modeling; Ball lightning; Ions; Lightning; Plasmas; Toroidal magnetic fields; Ball lightning; electron spiral toroids; field reversed configuration; high ion density; plasma toroids; spheromaks;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Access, IEEE
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
2169-3536
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/ACCESS.2014.2308476
Filename :
6748850
Link To Document :
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