# Ball 2014: First spectrum of ball lightning

> Philip Ball, 2014. 8 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Details of the 2012 observation and an independent researcher's view.

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# First spectrum of ball lightning

Philip Ball, 2014. _Physics 7, 5 (American Physical Society)_.

The APS news account of the Cen et al. observation: July 2012, late evening, on the Qinghai Plateau, by Ping Yuan's group from Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou, about 900 m from a cloud-to-ground strike; spectral range 400–1000 nm; a glow about 5 m across in the recording (the ball itself smaller); about a second or so; drifted about 10 m horizontally and rose about 3 m; white to reddish; lines of silicon, iron and calcium, aluminium unconfirmed. Quotes Martin Uman that it is "probably of ball lightning, or one type of ball lightning".

**Ball lightning** Articledoi: **[10.1103/Physics.7.5](https://doi.org/10.1103/Physics.7.5)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

Details of the 2012 observation and an independent researcher's view.

## Cited by on this site 8 records

[It was a related but different phenomenon, such as a long-lived luminous ground-strike remnant, not…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/answers/ANS0D40AD9Y1EQW/it-was-a-related-but-different-phenomenon-such-as-a-long)

Answer

ANS

[It was a single event seen at 0.9 km; the apparent 5 m glow overstates the ball's size.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/evidence/EVD0D40ADSJ6NMS/it-was-a-single-event-seen-at-0-9-km-the-apparent-5-m-glow)

Evidence

EVD

[Martin Uman called it probably ball lightning, or one type of ball lightning.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/evidence/EVD0D40ADHR05B2/martin-uman-called-it-probably-ball-lightning-or-one-type-of)

Evidence

EVD

[A ball lightning is recorded by two slitless spectrographs after a ground stroke](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/events/EVT0D40A3S86ZVY/a-ball-lightning-is-recorded-by-two-slitless-spectrographs)

EVT

[Ping Yuan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/people/FIG0D40A1TR3XSG/ping-yuan)

FIG

[Ball lightning](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning)

The mystery article

MYS

[Northwest Normal University](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/organisations/ORG0D40A2T03M5J/northwest-normal-university)

ORG

[Does the 2012 Qinghai recording show a ball of burning soil vapour?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/questions/QST0D40A5QR3YCV/does-the-2012-qinghai-recording-show-a-ball-of-burning-soil)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Ball, P. (2014). First spectrum of ball lightning. Physics 7, 5 (American Physical Society). https://doi.org/10.1103/Physics.7.5
```

[Read it free at physics.aps.org](https://physics.aps.org/articles/v7/5)

Key

**SRC** 0D409VQE6E1A

Kind

Journal article

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

29 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published article

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

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