Computer Simulations For Modelling Explosive Properties Of Ball Lightning

We prepare a computer simulation using GAMESS Quantum Chemistry and Avogadro molecular editing software to create a simulation of redox reactions in metals suspended in an airborne spheroidal plasma of 30,000 Kelvin and observing energy output for the purpose of testing the plausibility of a chemical origin of the explosive properties of Ball Lightning (BL). We use a modification of the burning silicon aerosol theory of BL which proposes that silicon from quartz and mica in the soil struck by lightning in a thunderstorm can become a hot aerosol plasma that remains stable due to energy release from the redox reaction of pure gaseous silicon in the atmosphere by adding in higher temperatures and additional metals based on the January 2014 publication by the Key Laboratory of Atomic and Molecular Physics and Functional Materials of Gansu Province of Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China of an accidental spectroscopy of a BL event. Using this modification, we test for the energy output for redox reactions with silicon, calcium, and other metals in the observed quantity, temperature, and volume to determine the plausibility of an energy release large enough to cause an explosive event. We then test for the rate of reaction at which this reaction would have to occur to induce said explosive event, and finally discuss possible mechanisms by which this increased reaction rate could or could not feasibly occur in the BL system during thunderstorm conditions of humidity, temperature, pressure, and electromagnetic field strength in order to provide further context to determining the most likely cause of the explosive properties of BL.