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Home Page <../index.htm>	*Science Frontiers*
*ONLINE*

*No. 116: Mar-Apr 1998*

*Issue Contents <index.htm>*


      Ball Lightning Collides With Car

*Summer 1991. Southern Bavaria, Germany*. R. Urbanek, a teacher from
Wasserburg, recalls her encounter with ball lightning.

    "I was with a friend in the area of Traunstein. My friend drove a
    minibus...150-200 meters...ahead of my car. Golf and several other
    cars were following behind me. It (had been) raining with heavy
    lightning and thunder. I did not drive at normal speed in such a
    weather...Then came a straight stretch of road with a bicycle path
    to the right, and an open wide field...Suddenly I saw a bright
    green, phosphorescent...ball about the size of a medical training
    ball, that _dropped to the ground_ behind the minibus...It fell to
    the road and _rolled towards me_. I knew immediately it was ball
    lightning, and from school physics I knew a car acts as a Faraday
    cage. So I kept my feet to the floor mat and grabbed the wheel with
    both arms. 3 to 5 seconds passed until the ball reached my car. It
    came in a straight line, with a slight deviation to the right (as
    seen from my position). When the ball caught my car at the right
    front side, it gave the vehicle _a strong shock or jerk, as if I had
    driven against an obstacle_. All that was on the right side of me
    _lit up bright green_ -- the hood, the windscreen, the instrument
    panel, and even the padding. In the rear-view mirror I could observe
    that the ball went off the road behind my car. It rolled about 50
    meters on the bicycle path, then went into the field and was gone
    after about 100 meters." 

This event was observed by people in the cars behind Urbanek. Later
examination of the car found no physical damage, no magnetic anomalies,
and no indications of contact with lightning.

(Keul, A.G.; "Ball Lightning-Car Collision near Traunstein, Bavaria,"
/Journal of Meteorology, U.K./, 22:284, 1997. Journal address: 54 Frome
Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LD, ENGLAND.)

*From Science Frontiers #116, MAR-APR 1998 <index.htm>. © 1998-2000
William R. Corliss*

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