Properties of short-living ball lightning produced in the laboratory

An experimental setup for highly reproducible generation of artificial ball lightnings is implemented. Thousands of floating glowing plasmoids 12–20 cm in diameter are produced. Research facilities for studying the plasmoids are developed. It is found that short-lived ball lightnings live for about 1 s and carry an electric charge. The lightnings are shown to have a complex structure: a central kernel containing a rich variety of hydrated ions and aerosol of decay products is surrounded by a thin negatively charged shell.