What is the difference between lightning and st elmo fire

This phenomenon manifests in electrical storms and other weather conditions that generate atmospheric electric fields. When conditions are right, a glowing blue to green light can appear around things like lightning rods, pipes, and the masts of ship. While St. Elmo's Fire looks like a fire, it is in fact plasma , gas that has been ionized due to the presence of an extremely large electrical field.

Once the charge dissipates, after a few seconds or minutes, the light vanishes along with it. Many people have actually seen St.

Elmo's Fire, but they might not have realized it. Neon lights are a carefully contained and controlled form caused by turning gases into plasma. Neon lights come in a range of colors, depending on the gases enclosed in the tubes; the mixture of gases in the Earth's atmosphere is what causes the natural phenomenon to appear green to blue in color. If we lived in an atmosphere of neon gas, then St. Is this phenomenon related to ball lightning?

No one knows, because no one knows what ball lightning is, and it might not be a spark at all. Elmo's fire is sometimes mistaken for ball lightning. Among other differences, ball lightning can drift around like a soap bubble, while St. Elmo's Fire always remains attached to an object.

A more literary analysis of St. Elmo's Fire is provided by Steven A. Ackerman, an assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: I boarded the Kings' ship; now in the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement; sometime I'd divide And burn in many places; on the topmast The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly Then meet and join. However, if an electric field at the end of a metal rod is strong, air molecules in its vicinity are ionized and charges stream off the end of the rod.

Since an electric field is intensified in regions of high curvature, discharges are intensified at the end of pointed metal rods. These "corona discharges" give a faint light that is visible in the dark. Elmo's fire is an example of a continuous corona discharge. It is not a form of lightning. The luminous glow of St. Elmo's fire is sometimes observed at night from the tops of ships' masts when electrified clouds are overhead.

The mast appears to be on fire but does not burn. Elmo's' fire tends to occur toward the end of a thunderstorm. Mariners have traditionally interpreted it as a good omen. Elmo's fire tends to take place in stormy conditions, it's a distinct phenomenon from lightning. The colorful lights of the aurora get their glow from relaxing particles as well, although the electrons that excite these particles ultimately get their energy from the solar wind, rather than electrically charged clouds.

Many also confuse St. Elmo's fire with ball lightning, another incandescent phenomenon known for millennia. While those hovering spheres of light remain poorly understood , the two events have been reported together, as in this mountaineer's account from , reported in the Journal of Scientific Exploration :.

I could see still tongues of light-blue flame on every point of steel framework which protruded from the ruins. The flame was of various sizes. The higher was the point, the larger was a tongue of flame on it. Still lower, at a height of 4, to 4, m [1, to 1, feet], lightning was flashing.

Orange balls of the size of a soccer ball were flying by the wind on the background of black clouds. Fortunately for hikers and sailors, St. Elmo's fire doesn't burn or present any immediate danger beyond the potentially stormy weather itself.

Engineers, however, must take corona discharge into account when designing electrical equipment, particularly power lines, as unwanted instances of St. Elmo's fire can sap valuable electricity. To minimize that effect, many long-distance power lines feature hoop-like "corona rings" around pointy areas such as the tips of towers and poles. These rings keep the electric field from getting concentrated enough to produce a lot of plasma.

In other cases, engineers have found ways to use corona discharge to their advantage. The process is involved in the production of ozone, an industrial disinfectant. Corona discharge also plays a role in creating the charged surfaces needed inside a photocopier.