10 Mind-Blowing Facts About Ball Lightning You Didn't Know

3. Ball Lightning's Ability to Pass Through Solid Objects

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Ball lightning's claimed capacity to flow through solid objects—such as walls, windows, and even aviation fuels—is among the most puzzling feature about it. Many eyewitness reports of this apparently unachievable accomplishment have been recorded, and scientists are still trying to figure out the process. According to some ideas, ball lightning might be a plasma phenomena that lets it pass through objects by a mechanism akin to quantum tunneling. Others suggest that it could be an electromagnetic phenomenon producing the impression of traveling through solids. Our knowledge of physics and the nature of matter depends much on the capacity of ball lightning to pass solid boundaries. It questions accepted ideas about the interaction of matter and energy, therefore providing fresh directions of inquiry in disciplines such materials science and plasma physics. This feature also brings significant safety issues since it implies that conventional protection strategies against lightning strikes would not be totally successful against ball lightning. Using sophisticated imaging technologies and computer simulations to replicate the behavior of ball lightning and its interactions with different materials, researchers keep exploring this phenomena.