Editing Ball lightning (section)

=== Vaporized silicon hypothesis ===
This hypothesis suggests that ball lightning consists of vaporized silicon [[combustion|burning]] through [[oxidation]]. Lightning striking Earth's soil could vaporize the silica contained within it, and somehow separate the oxygen from the silicon dioxide, turning it into pure silicon vapor. As it cools, the silicon could condense into a floating aerosol, bound by its charge, glowing due to the heat of silicon recombining with [[oxygen]]. An experimental investigation of this effect, published in 2007, reported producing "luminous balls with lifetime in the order of seconds" by evaporating pure silicon with an electric arc.<ref name=NGN /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Paiva |first1=Gerson Silva |author2=Antonio Carlos Pavão |author3=Elder Alpes de Vasconcelos |author4=Odim Mendes Jr. |author5=Eronides Felisberto da Silva Jr. |year= 2007|title= Production of Ball-Lightning-Like Luminous Balls by Electrical Discharges in Silicon|journal=Phys. Rev. Lett.|volume=98 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.048501|page=048501 |pmid=17358820 |issue=4 |bibcode=2007PhRvL..98d8501P|url=http://urlib.net/sid.inpe.br/mtc-m17@80/2007/11.12.14.06 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19325863.500|title=Lightning balls created in the lab|magazine=New Scientist|date=10 January 2007|quote=A more down-to-earth theory, proposed by John Abrahamson and James Dinniss at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, is that ball lightning forms when lightning strikes soil, turning any silica in the soil into pure silicon vapour. As the vapour cools, the silicon condenses into a floating aerosol bound into a ball by charges that gather on its surface, and it glows with the heat of silicon recombining with oxygen.}}</ref> Videos and spectrographs of this experiment have been made available.<ref>{{Cite web |url=ftp://ftp.aip.org/epaps/phys_rev_lett/E-PRLTAO-98-047705/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107032310/http://ftp.aip.org/epaps/phys_rev_lett/E-PRLTAO-98-047705/ |archive-date=2018-11-07 |url-status=dead |title=Index of /Epaps/Phys_rev_lett/E-PRLTAO-98-047705 |access-date=6 April 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Slezak|first=Michael|title=Natural ball lightning probed for the first time|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24886-natural-ball-lightning-probed-for-the-first-time.html#.Utl4i3co6Hu|journal=[[New Scientist]]|volume=221|issue=2953|page=17|access-date=17 January 2014|bibcode=2014NewSc.221...17S|year=2014|doi=10.1016/S0262-4079(14)60173-1|url-access=subscription}}</ref> This hypothesis got significant supportive data in 2014, when the first ever recorded spectra of natural ball lightning were published.<ref name="BLspectrum" /><ref name="BLspectrumvideo" /> The theorized forms of silicon storage in soil include nanoparticles of Si, [[Silicon monoxide|SiO]], and [[Silicon carbide|SiC]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Abrahamson |first1 = John |title = Ball lightning caused by oxidation of nanoparticle networks from normal lightning strikes on soil |journal = Nature |volume = 403 |issue = 6769 |pages = 519–21 |year = 2000 |doi = 10.1038/35000525 |first2 = James |pmid = 10676954 |bibcode = 2000Natur.403..519A |last2 = Dinniss |s2cid = 4387046 }}</ref>
Matthew Francis has dubbed this the "dirt clod hypothesis", in which the spectrum of ball lightning shows that it shares chemistry with soil.<ref name=Francis2014>{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2014/01/the-dirty-secret-behind-ball-lightning-is-dirt/|title=The dirty secret behind ball lightning is dirt|first=Matthew|last=Francis|date=22 January 2014|website=Ars Technica}}</ref>