Podcast Summary
Apple Card's daily cashback and savings account yield: Apple Card offers daily cashback, growing at a 4.50% annual percentage yield in a savings account, while State Farm Small Business Insurance provides personalized policies for small businesses based on their unique needs.
Apple Card offers daily cashback of up to 3% on every purchase, which grows at a 4.50% annual percentage yield when you open a savings account. Meanwhile, State Farm Small Business Insurance caters to small business owners with personalized policies based on their specific needs, as their agents are also small business owners. The speaker, Noam Hassenfeld, shared a personal story about encountering a rare weather phenomenon called ball lightning. Despite its rarity, many people have reported seeing it, and the speaker emphasized its unexplainable nature. This anecdote highlights the fascination and intrigue that surrounds unusual occurrences.
Mysterious and Elusive: The Study of Ball Lightning: Scientists like Dr. Carl Stefan continue to investigate the unexplained phenomenon of ball lightning despite limited evidence and skepticism from the scientific community.
Ball lightning is an elusive and largely unexplored phenomenon in the scientific community. Despite anecdotal evidence dating back thousands of years, there is a lack of concrete documentation and scientific understanding of this natural occurrence. Dr. Carl Stefan, an electrical engineer and tenured professor at Texas State, is among the scientists who have dedicated their research to studying ball lightning. However, due to its fleeting and unpredictable nature, there is limited evidence available, with most documentation being anecdotal or in the form of low-quality videos. The scientific community has faced skepticism regarding the existence of ball lightning, with some dismissing it as mere optical illusions. Regardless, the intrigue surrounding this mysterious phenomenon continues to draw researchers to explore its origins and properties.
Consistent Descriptions of Ball Lightning: Ball lightning's spherical shape, various colors, slow movement, and short duration are common across reports, challenging their fabrication and supporting their existence as a natural phenomenon.
Despite the seemingly fantastical nature of ball lightning accounts, their consistent and specific descriptions create a coherent body of phenomena. These reports share commonalities, such as the spherical shape, various colors, slow movement, and short duration. The consistency of these accounts challenges the idea that they are merely random or fabricated. While ball lightning may not be as outlandish as extraterrestrial life, its existence doesn't necessarily contradict reality. Furthermore, there are potential scientific explanations for ball lightning, which adds to its credibility.
Scientific explanations for ball lightning: Ball lightning forms when lightning interacts with the ground, creating a cloud of material or plasma. An accidental lab discovery supports this theory.
Despite the mysterious nature of ball lightning, there are plausible scientific explanations suggesting it forms as a result of lightning interacting with the ground and creating a cloud of material or plasma. This was supported by an accidental discovery made by scientist Eli Gerbi, who observed ball lightning-like phenomena in his lab when a microwave beam hit molten material, causing a plasma ball to form and behave similarly to ball lightning. State Farm, a sponsor of the podcast, was also highlighted as a trusted resource for small business owners seeking insurance solutions tailored to their unique needs and budgets.
The Neuruppen, Germany case challenges the lightning strike theory of ball lightning: The Neuruppen, Germany case of ball lightning appearing during a lightning storm but not near a strike challenges the widely accepted theory that lightning strikes cause ball lightning. An alternative hypothesis suggests electrostatic charges could create ball lightning, but more research is needed to confirm this theory.
While the hypothesis of lightning strikes causing ball lightning has some scientific merit, it doesn't fully explain all observed instances. The case of ball lightning appearing in Neuruppen, Germany, during a lightning storm but not near a strike, challenges this theory. Another hypothesis, suggested by Carl, involves electrostatic charges creating ball lightning. This theory, based on an old experiment, is intriguing. However, it's essential to remember that it's just one theory and more research is needed to fully understand the phenomenon of ball lightning. In essence, the search for a definitive explanation continues.
Two theories on the origin of ball lightning: Despite two proposed explanations for ball lightning, neither has been proven through successful experimentation, leaving the scientific community in need of more evidence to solve this intriguing phenomenon.
The phenomenon of ball lightning remains a mystery, with two potential explanations currently under investigation. The first explanation suggests that ball lightning forms when a lightning bolt strikes the ground and the resulting electric charge creates the ball. The second explanation proposes that an electrical storm creates a smoke ball due to the influence of the electric field. However, both explanations contradict certain electrostatic principles and have yet to be proven through successful experimentation. The scientific community is in need of more documentation, such as real videos, to further investigate this intriguing phenomenon. The search for answers continues, as the hope is that one day, someone will witness ball lightning and make an observation that leads to the next breakthrough. Personal anecdotes shared in the conversation highlight the fascination and obsession people have had with ball lightning throughout history, and the disappointment and skepticism that can come with the lack of concrete evidence.
Personal experiences of witnessing ball lightning shared on Unexplainable: Listeners can sign up for the newsletter, report their own ball lightning sightings, and learn more through links to related resources in the show notes.
Ball lightning is a real and fascinating phenomenon, as shared by several individuals in this episode of Unexplainable. Emily Clanton described her personal experience of witnessing a grapefruit-sized, bright, and fuzzy ball of light, which she later identified as ball lightning. Noam Hassenfeld added to the discussion by singing a song about his own encounter with this rare natural occurrence. The team at Unexplainable expressed their gratitude to all the storytellers, including Meg Ullison, Ross Spence, Andrea Maxend, Elizabeth Ross, Annie Kevin Kimball, Simon Harrowing, and Ralph Brechtin. The episode was produced and co-reported by Bird Pinkerton, with music by Noam Hassenfeld, editing from Noam, Brian Resnick, Jillian Weinberger, and Meredith Hoddenott, fact checking by Liliana Michelinna, and mixing and sound design by Hannes Brown. Listeners are encouraged to sign up for the newsletter and report their own ball lightning sightings. For more information, check out the links to Carl Siding's collection project, dancing jollibobs of light videos, and Elizabeth Galyon's illustrations in the show notes. Keep sending your thoughts to unexplainable@vox.com. Unexplainable is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network and will return next Wednesday.
