Bretwood Higman/AVO Inside towering clouds of volcanic ash, stunning lightning storms can create tiny crystal balls, a new study reports. Researchers recently discovered smooth glass spheres in ...

Figure 2 Google “lightning rod ball” search result excerpt. I imagine that sudden heating of the vertical metal rod at the moment of a lightning strike would cause rod expansion against the glass, ...

Some people say glass balls were added to lightning rods so people would know if a structure had been hit should they find the ball shattered following a storm. Others say this is not so.

Ball lightning is one of the most mysterious ... The researchers aimed the beam through a pointed rod and into a solid object made from glass, silicon and other materials. The energy from the ...

Lightning bolts that flash and clash high above erupting volcanoes can forge flying ash into glass, new research finds. The mechanism could explain the origins of odd microscopic glass beads found ...

Brazilian researchers captured on camera the brief moment when lightning rods on buildings released an upward discharge to attract incoming lightning. By Nicholas Bakalar Benjamin Franklin ...