The squirrel, the fireball, and the explosion

[sonos]

I was watching the news a few months ago. The eye-witness reports:

"There was this fireball that travelled down the wire for about a
block, and when the fireball reached the transformer, there was this
explosion."

Authorities blamed a squirrel.

What was the fireball and why did it travel slowly (and not
instantaneous like lightning) to the transformer?

Was the fireball a 'moving molten short'; the squirrel caused
the initial short, heating the power wire, melting the wire. The molten
short then melting down the wire to the transformer where the surge caused
the explosion? Or was it a plasma ball, attracted to the magnetic pull of
the transformer and the squirrel was just an innocent bystander?

 

[[email protected]]

I was watching the news a few months ago. The eye-witness reports:

"There was this fireball that travelled down the wire for about a
block, and when the fireball reached the transformer, there was this
explosion."

Authorities blamed a squirrel.

What was the fireball and why did it travel slowly (and not
instantaneous like lightning) to the transformer?

Was the fireball a 'moving molten short'; the squirrel caused
the initial short, heating the power wire, melting the wire. The molten
short then melting down the wire to the transformer where the surge caused
the explosion? Or was it a plasma ball, attracted to the magnetic pull of
the transformer and the squirrel was just an innocent bystander?

Try searching on "ball lightening". Look at things like

http://www.tbns.net/mediapoet/tech19b.htm

 

[Paul Burridge]

Try searching on "ball lightening". Look at things like

http://www.tbns.net/mediapoet/tech19b.htm

BS exhibiting his customary comprehension problem...
What has ball lightening to do with the OP's question?
The OP was looking for a theory which would encompass the presence of
a squirrel having some calculable effect on the observed phenomenon
and thereby accounting to some extent (as yet undetermined) upon it.
Ball lightening of itself has nothing to do with squirrels.

 

[Tim Williams]

I was watching the news a few months ago. The eye-witness reports:

"There was this fireball that travelled down the wire for about a
block, and when the fireball reached the transformer, there was this
explosion."

Authorities blamed a squirrel.

What was the fireball and why did it travel slowly (and not
instantaneous like lightning) to the transformer?

Sounds like Jacobs Ladder effect, or Lenz' law. Either way, the plasma is
pushed down line until it reaches something tasty and the conditions change
(boom).

Tim

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

BS exhibiting his customary comprehension problem...
What has ball lightening to do with the OP's question?
The OP was looking for a theory which would encompass the presence of
a squirrel having some calculable effect on the observed phenomenon
and thereby accounting to some extent (as yet undetermined) upon it.
Ball lightening of itself has nothing to do with squirrels.

Nonsense. Everytime you see ball lighting, a squirrel soul is being
propelled toward heaven.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[[email protected]]

BS exhibiting his customary comprehension problem...
What has ball lightning to do with the OP's question?

The fireball sounds like ball lightning. Do a bit of background reading
and your own comprehesion problem might be marginally less pressing.

The OP was looking for a theory which would encompass the presence of
a squirrel having some calculable effect on the observed phenomenon
and thereby accounting to some extent (as yet undetermined) upon it.
Ball lightening of itself has nothing to do with squirrels.

The squirrel seems to have been a hypothetical creature, invented by
the power company to explain the fireball, which presumably measn that
they don't know anything more about ball lightning than you do.

 

[amdx]

BS exhibiting his customary comprehension problem...
What has ball lightening to do with the OP's question?
The OP was looking for a theory which would encompass the presence of
a squirrel having some calculable effect on the observed phenomenon
and thereby accounting to some extent (as yet undetermined) upon it.
Ball lightening of itself has nothing to do with squirrels.
--

From ball lightning to squirrel by Omnipelagos,
http://www.omnipelagos.com/query?start_name=ball+lightning&end_name=squirrel
s

Mike

 

[Andrew]

Poppycock. You all missed the symbolism.

The wire is the timeline of man. The moving ball of fire is the
unprecedented acceleration of entropy, with the resulting explosion the
completion of all order to disorder.

The squirrel was actually a mouse which, if you have not yet realized, is in
control of everything.

Moral of the story: always carry a towel.

42.

 

[Jamie Morken]

I was watching the news a few months ago. The eye-witness reports:

"There was this fireball that travelled down the wire for about a
block, and when the fireball reached the transformer, there was this
explosion."

Authorities blamed a squirrel.

What was the fireball and why did it travel slowly (and not
instantaneous like lightning) to the transformer?

When a squirrel is on fire it can only run so fast, especially
on a wire.

cheers,
Jamie

 

[Glen Walpert]

The fireball sounds like ball lightning. Do a bit of background reading
and your own comprehesion problem might be marginally less pressing.

Background reading on the web about ball lightning will primarily turn
up total BS. Ball lightning, a metastable plasma ball (as it is known
to the physics community) very very rarely produced by regular
lightning only, cannot possibly attach to a conductor without
immediately dissipating.

The squirrel seems to have been a hypothetical creature, invented by
the power company to explain the fireball, which presumably measn that
they don't know anything more about ball lightning than you do.

Squirrels and other rodents do a lot of damage to outdoor wiring,
invariably leaving behind clear evidence in the form of chewed
insulation. I have personally seen massive squirrel damage to medium
voltage cables cause an arc fault, and I doubt if you can find an
experienced utility lineman anywhere squirrels live who cannot say the
same. This is why Spehro's theory about squirrel souls going to
heaven in ball lightning must be wrong; squirrels are evil and their
souls go straight to hell when they fry on power lines.

There is no need to hypothesize about rarer than hens teeth ball
lightning when an ordinary arc fault fits the evidence so much better.

 

[Noone]

Squirrels and other rodents do a lot of damage to outdoor wiring,
invariably leaving behind clear evidence in the form of chewed
insulation. I have personally seen massive squirrel damage to medium
voltage cables cause an arc fault, and I doubt if you can find an
experienced utility lineman anywhere squirrels live who cannot say the
same. This is why Spehro's theory about squirrel souls going to
heaven in ball lightning must be wrong; squirrels are evil and their
souls go straight to hell when they fry on power lines.

There is no need to hypothesize about rarer than hens teeth ball
lightning when an ordinary arc fault fits the evidence so much better.

We no longer put up Christmas lights on the Spruce trees on the north side
of our house. As soon as they are installed and illuminated, the squirrels
begin chewing off the bulbs thinking they are nuts to be buried. These are
110 V large parallerl wired bulbs. In looking at the remnant wires, there
are many places where both wires have been gnawed simulataneously. Never a
dead squirrel. And we no longer put up lights for their entertainment.

I played with a guy on a rec sport team once who worked for the local power
company doing the really high voltage lines. He said no one ever retired
from his department. He went on to describe how when you get "bit", you
develop a lot of internal pressure from "steam" (his words) which causes you
to pop like an over cooked hot dog.

Theory: Squirrel bridged the wires becoming a conductor (Squirrel Flambe)
and created a conductive ionized path (arc) that walked down the wire.

Blakely

 

[Chris Carlen]

Background reading on the web about ball lightning will primarily turn
up total BS. Ball lightning, a metastable plasma ball (as it is known
to the physics community) very very rarely produced by regular
lightning only, cannot possibly attach to a conductor without
immediately dissipating.


Squirrels and other rodents do a lot of damage to outdoor wiring,
invariably leaving behind clear evidence in the form of chewed
insulation. I have personally seen massive squirrel damage to medium
voltage cables cause an arc fault, and I doubt if you can find an
experienced utility lineman anywhere squirrels live who cannot say the
same. This is why Spehro's theory about squirrel souls going to
heaven in ball lightning must be wrong; squirrels are evil and their
souls go straight to hell when they fry on power lines.

That doesn't disprove Sphero's theory, it only explains why ball
lightning is rare. There must be a few worthy squirrel souls, which are
the ones that lead to ball lightning.



--
Good day!

________________________________________
Christopher R. Carlen
Principal Laser&Electronics Technologist
Sandia National Laboratories CA USA
[email protected]
NOTE, delete texts: "RemoveThis" and
"BOGUS" from email address to reply.

 

[Rich Grise]

Nonsense. Everytime you see ball lighting, a squirrel soul is being
propelled toward heaven.

And when you hear a bell, they get their wings?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

We no longer put up Christmas lights on the Spruce trees on the north side
of our house. As soon as they are installed and illuminated, the squirrels
begin chewing off the bulbs thinking they are nuts to be buried. These are
110 V large parallerl wired bulbs. In looking at the remnant wires, there
are many places where both wires have been gnawed simulataneously. Never a
dead squirrel. And we no longer put up lights for their entertainment.

I played with a guy on a rec sport team once who worked for the local power
company doing the really high voltage lines. He said no one ever retired
from his department. He went on to describe how when you get "bit", you
develop a lot of internal pressure from "steam" (his words) which causes you
to pop like an over cooked hot dog.

Theory: Squirrel bridged the wires becoming a conductor (Squirrel Flambe)
and created a conductive ionized path (arc) that walked down the wire.

Arcs are, indeed, exceedingly weird. I was once working with a guy who was
trying to teach me TIG (and/or MIG) welding - that's "Tungsten inert gas",
or "heliarc," and "Metal inert gas", where the electrode and filler are
the same piece of metal. I never did see "an arc", according to what I
thought "an arc" should look like. It was like a sort of plasma dome over
the hot spot. I was looking for something that looked like your
traditional image of lightning, or that arc you drew to the scope probe
when you wanted to see what the waveform at the horizontal deflection
plate cap looked like. But the welding arc wasn't like that at all. It
was just kinda sorta, like I said, a dome-shaped ball of plasma. Not like
a Jacob's ladder arc, either.

But very weird. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out that ball
lightning can do weird things.

Thanks!
Rich

 

[Paul Burridge]

Arcs are, indeed, exceedingly weird. I was once working with a guy who was
trying to teach me TIG (and/or MIG) welding - that's "Tungsten inert gas",
or "heliarc," and "Metal inert gas", where the electrode and filler are
the same piece of metal. I never did see "an arc", according to what I
thought "an arc" should look like. It was like a sort of plasma dome over
the hot spot. I was looking for something that looked like your
traditional image of lightning, or that arc you drew to the scope probe
when you wanted to see what the waveform at the horizontal deflection
plate cap looked like. But the welding arc wasn't like that at all. It
was just kinda sorta, like I said, a dome-shaped ball of plasma. Not like
a Jacob's ladder arc, either.

Yeah, you're right, Rich. I had a crack at TIG a while ago and there's
no "arc" as in the conventional sense. It looks for all the world like
the fine, and quite sharp cone you get with gas welding - and I guess
maybe it is plasma. By twiddling a knob on the welder - god knows what
it controlled - you could completely change the profile of the
finished fillet, too. Weird! I'll bet the switchers in those things
work overtime, too. They must take a lot of punishment. :-/

 

[Fred Abse]

(So far the worst I have seen from chipmunks is a few holes in the
driveway, and a bit of chatter when I fill them back in, so they are
still cute IMO.)

Their fleas can carry bubonic plague, and jump ten feet.