A note on the formation of the fireball plasma

Abstract

A model for the formation of the fireball arc or spark discharge, sometimes called a fireball plasma, is developed based on the nonlinearity of the voltage-current characteristics of a high-current arc discharge. A nonlinear transmission line equation for the discharge current is obtained which is solved in terms of the Jacobi elliptic functions. Under certain prescribed conditions the current field collapses into a small region. This collapse of the current field is taken to be the fireball. It is additionally pointed out that nonlinearities other than the voltage-current characteristics of the high-current arc could produce similar results. Finally, it is suggested that Ball Lightning may have the same origin.