Corona currents generated from a person’s head in the vicinity of lightning strikes : Stimulation ofphosphenes

• Phosphene is a sensory experience which occurs dueto the interaction of electric currents generated by an externalagent with the visual cortex or retina. Occurrence of phospheneshas been documented in clinical Transcranial MagneticStimulation (TMS) studies where electric fields are induced inthe brain by the application of time varying magnetic fields. Inthis paper the possibility of creating phosphenes by the coronacurrents developing from the head of a person located close to alightning strike is investigated. The results show that themagnitude of the electric fields induced in the brain by coronacurrents are comparable to those generated by TMS. This inturn shows that the corona currents generated by long durationlightning flashes could excite phosphenes through theirinteraction with the visual cortex or retina in a human located inthe vicinity of the lightning channel. It is suggested that some ofthe ball lightning observations reported in the literature could beluminous perceptions caused by the interaction of the coronacurrents with the visual cortex or retina of a person located inthe vicinity of a lightning strike.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Lightning

Corona currents

Phosphenes

ball lightning

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)