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Illustration of St. Elmo's fire on a ship at sea Electrostatic discharge flashes across the windscreen of a KC-10 cockpit.. St. Elmo's fire (also called witchfire or witch's fire [1]) is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object such as a mast, spire, chimney, or animal horn [2] in an atmospheric electric field.
Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire, whereas they are separate and distinct phenomena. [26] Although referred to as "fire", St. Elmo's Fire is, in fact, plasma, and is observed, usually during a thunderstorm, at the tops of trees, spires or other tall objects, or on the heads of animals, as a brush or star of light.
Pilots evacuating in preparation for Hurricane Idalia observed bright blue light outside their aircraft, an event called St. Elmo’s fire. Here’s what causes it.
Some ghost lights such as St. Elmo's fire or the shiranui have been explained as optical phenomena of light emitted through electrical activity. Other types may be due to combustion of flammable gases, ball lightning, meteors, torches and other human-made fires, the misperception of human objects, and pranks. [2] [3]
Corona discharges can also happen in weather, such as thunderstorms, where objects like ship masts or airplane wings have a charge significantly different from the air around them (St. Elmo's fire). In many high-voltage applications, corona is an unwanted side effect.
The Parks and Recreation star said that he thinks the original St. Elmo's Fire connected with audiences because of its honesty in depicting the perils of young adulthood. "It was a hit in its time ...
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Lightning and other manifestations of electricity such as St. Elmo's fire were known in ancient times, but it was not understood that these phenomena had a common origin. [11] Ancient Egyptians were aware of shocks when interacting with electric fish (such as the electric catfish) or other animals (such as electric eels). [12]
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