Awhile back my friend showed me something I could do in my microwave to produce artificial "ball lightning". I'm not sure thats what this is, but its pretty neat. Anyhow, I captured the thing on video. I modified the original experiment by putting a jar over the toothpick in order to capture the ball lightning so its lifespan is longer (and because i was afraid of what it was doing to the microwave). Without the jar, the ball is instantly sucked into the vent and disappears with a crackling sound. I only let it run for maybe 2 or 3 seconds because it heats the jar extremely quickly. I don't want to have to deal with shattered glass in the microwave.

 

Anyhow, heres a theory behind it:

 

"Before the plasma ball forms there is a bright flash at the flame. Probably the electromagnetic field induce arc-light at the carbonized wick producing large number of electrons and ions. These particles together with the ionized particles of the flame forms a cloud that conducts electricity. The microwave can create eddy current (?) in this cloud. This current could prevent the recombination of the ions and electrons. The size of the balls is cca. 3cm that is in good agreement with the theory of P. Kapitza."

 

 

 

Plasmoid in my microwave (WMV Format, 1.9MB)

 

Plasmoid (MPEG-1 format, 6.9MB)

 

I recommend you right click and "Save Target As" ...as opposed to watching in your browser. That way it will run smoother and won't eat bandwidth.

 

If anyone has a deathly slow modem and would rather see images, I can try and capture some images from the video, just let me know.

sweet

foolish mpeg lover. now its going to kill bandwidth 6 times the size of the WMV.

someone doesn't know how to compress things right

Mmmm, chewy microwave plasma.

I would not suggest that you conduct this experimentular without proper instruction. I failed to read the "2-3 seconds" and needless to say, there is a sufficient amount of glass shards in everything that goes through my microwave now.

 

good day.

 

 

 

[edited... play nice graham, <3 fafalone]

Thomas Edison would have loved to play with one of these.

Thanks for sharing that.

Just aman.

some explain to me how this thing is workin in more details please? i'm not exactly grasping the whole concept of it