15 Scientific Theories About Ball Lightning: The 8th Will Revolutionize Your Understanding

5. The Quantum Mechanical Model

Proposing that these phenomena is a macroscopic quantum effect, the quantum mechanical model of ball lightning marks a dramatic departure from traditional explanations. Under some circumstances, this theory proposes that, like a Bose-Einstein condensate, a lot of air molecules can attain a collective quantum state but at a far greater temperature. The coherently acting particles in this condition produce a stable, bright structure that we interpret as ball lightning. Advocates of this idea contend that it clarifies ball lightning's seeming inconceivable stability and energy level as well as its ability to flow through solid things without dissipating. Accounting for its often strange and contradictory characteristics, the quantum model suggests that quantum mechanical principles rather than classical physics controls the behavior of the ball lightning. This hypothesis also implies that various quantum states or transitions within the condensate could be responsible for the observed variations in colors and intensities in ball lightning. Critics of the quantum mechanical model draw attention to the great difficulty preserving quantum coherence in the heated, turbulent atmosphere. Recent developments in quantum physics, especially in the domain of quantum biology, have, however, demonstrated that quantum effects may last in complicated, room-temperature systems longer than before considered feasible. Though extremely speculative, the quantum mechanical model of ball lightning has attracted attention in macroscopic quantum phenomena in atmospheric science and opened fresh directions of research in quantum optics and condensed matter physics.