St. Elmo's fire
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. It has also been observed on the leading edges of airplanes, as in the case of British Airways Flight 009, and by U.S. Air Force pilots.[3]
The intensity of the effect, a blue or violet glow around the object, often accompanied by a hissing or buzzing sound, is proportional to the strength of the electric field and therefore noticeable primarily during
St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formia (also known as St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors. The phenomenon, which can warn of an imminent lightning strike,[4] was regarded by sailors with awe and sometimes considered to be a good omen.[5][6]
Cause
St. Elmo's fire is a reproducible and demonstrable form of plasma. The electric field around the affected object causes ionization of the air molecules, producing a faint glow easily visible in low-light conditions. Conditions that can generate St. Elmo's fire are present during thunderstorms, when high-voltage differentials are present between clouds and the ground underneath. A local electric field of about 100 kV/m is required to begin a discharge in moist air. The magnitude of the electric field depends greatly on the geometry (shape and size) of the object. Sharp points lower the necessary voltage because electric fields are more concentrated in areas of high curvature, so discharges preferentially occur and are more intense at the ends of pointed objects.
The nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere cause St. Elmo's fire to fluoresce with blue or violet light; this is similar to the mechanism that causes neon lights to glow, albeit at a different colour due to the different gas involved.[7]
In 1751, Benjamin Franklin hypothesized that a pointed iron rod would light up at the tip during a lightning storm, similar in appearance to St. Elmo's fire.[8][9]
In an August 2020 paper, researchers in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics demonstrated that St. Elmo's fire behaves differently in airborne objects versus grounded structures. They show that electrically isolated structures accumulate charge more effectively in high wind, in contrast to the corona discharge observed in grounded structures.[10][11]
In history and culture
- In
- After the medieval period, St. Elmo's fire was sometimes associated with the salamander, or, alternatively, with a similar creature referred to as an acthnici.[14]
- Welsh mariners referred to St. Elmo's fire as canwyll yr ysbryd or canwyll yr ysbryd glân ("candles of the St. David").[15]
- Russian sailors also historically documented instances of St. Elmo's fire, known as "Saint Nicholas" or "Saint Peter's lights",St. Hermes' fire, perhaps through linguistic confusion.[16]
- St. Elmo's fire is reported to have been seen[by whom?] during the Siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. It was reportedly[where?] seen[by whom?] emitting from the top of the Hippodrome. The Byzantines attributed it to a sign that the Christian God would soon come and destroy the conquering Muslim army. According to George Sphrantzes,[citation needed] it disappeared just days before Constantinople fell, ending the Byzantine Empire.
- Accounts of Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe refer to St. Elmo's fire (calling it the body of St. Anselm) being seen around the fleet's ships multiple times off the coast of South America. The sailors saw these as favorable omens.[17]
- En route to Nagasaki with the Fat Man atom bomb on 9 August 1945, the B-29 Bockscar experienced an uncanny luminous blue plasma forming around the spinning propellers, "as though we were riding the whirlwind through space on a chariot of blue fire."[18]
- St Elmo's fire was seen during the 1955 Great Plains tornado outbreak in Kansas and Oklahoma.[19]
- Among the phenomena experienced on British Airways Flight 9 on 24 June 1982, were glowing light flashes along the leading edges of the aircraft, including the wings and cockpit windscreen, which were seen by both passengers and crew. While the bright flashes of light shared similarities with St Elmo's fire, the glow experienced was from the impact of ash particles on the leading edges of the aircraft, similar to that seen by operators of sandblastingequipment.
- St. Elmo's fire was observed and its optical spectrum recorded during a University of Alaska research flight over the Amazon in 1995 to study sprites.[20][21]
- Ill-fated Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2009 is understood to have experienced St. Elmo's fire 23 minutes prior to crashing into the Atlantic Ocean; however, the phenomenon was not a factor in the disaster.[22][23]
- Apoy ni San Elmo – commonly shortened to santelmo – is a bad omen or a flying spirit in Filipino folklore, although the description for santelmo is more similar to ball lightning than St. Elmo's fire. There are various indigenous names for santelmo which has existed before the term santelmo was coined. The term santelmo originated from Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines. [citation needed]
Notable observations
Classical texts
St. Elmo's fire is referenced in the works of
Zheng He
In 15th-century
The power of the goddess, having indeed been manifested in previous times, has been abundantly revealed in the present generation. In the midst of the rushing waters it happened that, when there was a hurricane, suddenly a divine lantern was seen shining at the masthead, and as soon as that miraculous light appeared the danger was appeased, so that even in the peril of capsizing one felt reassured and that there was no cause for fear.
— Admiral Zheng He and his associates (Changle inscription) [25]
Accounts associated with Magellan and da Gama
Mention of St. Elmo's fire can be found in
Robert Burton
John Davis
On 9 May 1605, while on the second voyage of
Pierre Testu-Brissy
This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2021) |
William Bligh
William Bligh recorded in his log on Sunday 4 May 1788, on board HMS Bounty of 'Mutiny On The Bounty' fame: 'Corpo-Sant. Some electrical Vapour seen about the Iron at the Yard Arms about the Size of the blaze of a Candle.' The location of this event was in the South Atlantic sailing from Cape Horn, (having failed to round the cape in the winter months), en route to Cape of Good Hope and west of Tristan da Cunha. The log records the ship's location as: Latd. 42°:34'S, Longd (by the time keeper K2) as 34°:38'W. Reference: Log of the Proceedings of His Majestys Ship Bounty in a Voyage to the South Seas, (to take the Breadfruit plant from the Society Islands to the West Indies,) under the Command of Lieutenant William Bligh, 1 December 1787 – 22 October 1788 Safe 1/46, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
William Noah
William Noah, a silversmith convicted in London of stealing 2,000 pounds of lead, while en route to Sydney, New South Wales on the convict transport ship Hillsborough, recorded two such observations in his detailed daily journal. The first was in the Southern Ocean midway between Cape Town and Sydney and the second was in the Tasman Sea, a day out of Port Jackson:
26 June 1799: At 4 Began to Blow very Hard with Heavy Shower of Rain & Hail and Extraordinary Heavy Clap of Thunder & Lightning when fell a Cormesant [corposant] a Body of Fire which collect from the Lightning & Lodge itself in the Foretopmast Head where it was first seen by our Captain when followed a Heavy Clap of Thunder & Lightning which occasioned it to fall & Burst on the Main Deck the Electrific of the Bursting of this Ball of Fire had such power as to shake several of their Leg not only On the Main Deck as the fire Hung much round the smith Forge being Iron but had the same Effect on the Gun Deck & Orlop [deck] on several of the Convicts.
25 July 1799: We were now sourounded with Heavy Thunder & Lightning and the Dismal Element foaming all round us Shocking to see with a Cormesant Hanging at the Maintop mast Head the Seamen was here Shock'd when a flash of Lightning came Burst the Cormesant & Struck two of the Seamen for several Hours Stone Blind & several much hurt in their Eyes.[29]
While the exact nature of these weather phenomena cannot be certain, they appear to be mostly about two observations of St. Elmo's fire with perhaps some ball lightning and even a direct lightning strike to the ship thrown into the mix.
James Braid
On 20 February 1817,[c] during a severe electrical storm, James Braid, surgeon at Lord Hopetoun's mines at Leadhills, Lanarkshire, had an extraordinary experience whilst on horseback:
On Thursday 20th, I was gratified for a few minutes with the luminous appearance described above [viz., "such flashes of lightning from the west, repeated every two or three minutes, sometimes at shorter intervals, as appeared to illumine the whole heavens"]. It was about nine o'clock, P.M. I had no sooner got on horseback than I observed the tips of both the horse's ears to be quite luminous: the edges of my hat had the same appearance. I was soon deprived of these luminaries by a shower of moist snow which immediately began to fall. The horse's ears soon became wet and lost their luminous appearance; but the edges of my hat, being longer of getting wet, continued to give the luminous appearance somewhat longer.
I could observe an immense number of minute sparks darting towards the horse's ears and the margin of my hat, which produced a very beautiful appearance, and I was sorry to be so soon deprived of it.
The atmosphere in this neighbourhood appeared to be very highly electrified for eight or ten days about this time. Thunder was heard occasionally from 15th to 23rd, during which time the weather was very unsteady: frequent showers of hail, snow, rain, &c.
I can find no person in this quarter who remembers to have ever seen the luminous appearance mentioned above, before this season, – or such a quantity of lightning darting across the heavens, – nor who have heard so much thunder at that season of the year.
This country being all stocked with sheep, and the herds having frequent occasion to pay attention to the state of the weather, it is not to be thought that such an appearance can have been at all frequent, and none of them to have observed it.[d]
— James Braid, 1817[30]
Weeks earlier, reportedly on 17 January 1817, a luminous snowstorm occurred in Vermont and New Hampshire. Saint Elmo's fire appeared as static discharges on roof peaks, fence posts, and the hats and fingers of people. Thunderstorms prevailed over central New England.[31]
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin noted the effect while aboard the Beagle. He wrote of the episode in a letter to J. S. Henslow that one night when the Beagle was anchored in the estuary of the Río de la Plata:
Everything is in flames – the sky with lightning, the water with luminous particles, and even the very masts are pointed with a blue flame.
— Charles Darwin, 1832[32]
He also describes the above night in his book The Voyage of the Beagle:
On a second night we witnessed a splendid scene of natural fireworks; the mast-head and yard-arm-ends shone with St.Elmo's light; and the form of the vane could almost be traced, as if it had been rubbed with phosphorous. The sea was so highly luminous, that the tracks of the penguins were marked by a fiery wake, and the darkness of the sky was momentarily illuminated by the most vivid lightning.
— Charles Darwin, 1832
Richard Henry Dana
In Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana Jr., (1815–1882) describes seeing a corposant in the horse latitudes of the northern Atlantic Ocean. However, he may have been talking about ball lightning; as mentioned earlier, it is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's fire:
The observation by R. H. Dana of this phenomenon in Two Years Before the Mast is a straightforward description of an extraordinary experience apparently only known to mariners and airline pilots.
There, directly over where we had been standing, upon the main top-gallant mast-head, was a ball of light, which the sailors name a corposant (corpus sancti), and which the mate had called out to us to look at. They were all watching it carefully, for sailors have a notion that if the corposant rises in the rigging it is a sign of
fair weather, but if it comes lower down, there will be a storm. Unfortunately, as an omen, it came down, and showed itself on the topgallant yardarm. We were off the yard in good season, for it is held as a fatal sign to have the pale light of the corposant thrown upon one's face.— Richard Henry Dana, 1840[33]
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla created St. Elmo's fire in 1899 while testing a Tesla coil at his laboratory in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. St. Elmo's fire was seen around the coil and was said to have lit up the wings of butterflies with blue halos as they flew around.[34]
Mark Heald
A minute before the crash of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin's LZ 129 Hindenburg on 6 May 1937, Professor Mark Heald (1892–1971) of Princeton saw St. Elmo's Fire flickering along the airship's back. Standing outside the main gate to the Naval Air Station, he watched, together with his wife and son, as the airship approached the mast and dropped her bow lines. A minute thereafter, by Heald's estimation, he first noticed a dim "blue flame" flickering along the backbone girder about one-quarter the length abaft the bow to the tail. There was time for him to remark to his wife, "Oh, heavens, the thing is afire," for her to reply, "Where?" and for him to answer, "Up along the top ridge" – before there was a big burst of flaming hydrogen from a point he estimated to be about one-third the ship's length from the stern.[35]
William L. Laurence
St. Elmo's fire was reported by The New York Times reporter William L. Laurence on 9 August 1945, as he was aboard a plane following Bockscar on the way to Nagasaki.
I noticed a strange, eerie light coming through the window high above in the Navigator's cabin and as I peered through the dark all around us I saw a startling phenomenon. The whirling giant propellers had somehow become great luminous discs of blue flame. The same luminous blue flame appeared on the plexiglass windows in the nose of the ship, and on the tips of the giant wings it looked as though we were riding the whirlwind through space on a chariot of blue fire. It was, I surmised, a surcharge of static electricity that had accumulated on the tips of the propellers and on the dielectric material in the plastic windows. One's thoughts dwelt anxiously on the precious cargo in the invisible ship ahead of us. Was there any likelihood of danger that this heavy electric tension in the atmosphere all about us may set it off? I express my fears to Captain Bock, who seems nonchalant and imperturbed at the controls. He quickly reassures me: "It is a familiar phenomenon seen often on ships. I have seen it many times on bombing missions. It is known as St. Elmo's Fire."[36]
In popular culture
In literature
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2013) |
One of the earliest references to the phenomenon appears in
The phenomenon appears to be described first in the
But now St. Elmo's fire appeared, which they had so longed for, it settled at the bows of a fore stay, the masts and yards all being gone, and gave them hope of calmer airs.
— Ludovico Ariosto, 1516
In William Shakespeare's The Tempest (c. 1623), Act I, Scene II, St. Elmo's fire acquires a more negative association, appearing as evidence of the tempest inflicted by Ariel according to the command of Prospero:
PROSPERO
- Hast thou, spirit,
- Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL
- To every article.
- I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
- Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
- I flamed amazement: sometime I'd divide,
- And burn in many places; on the topmast,
- The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
- Then meet and join.
— Act I, Scene II, The Tempest
The fires are also mentioned as "death fires" in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
- About, about, in reel and rout,
- The death fires danced at night;
- The water, like a witch's oils,
- Burnt green and blue and white.
— l. 127–130
Later in the 18th and 19th centuries, literature associated St. Elmo's fire with a bad omen or
"And what is that tapering of light you bear?" said Emily, "see how it darts upwards,—and now it vanishes!"
"This light, lady," said the soldier, "has appeared to-night as you see it, on the point of my lance, ever since I have been on watch; but what it means I cannot tell."
"This is very strange!" said Emily.
"My fellow-guard," continued the man, "has the same flame on his arms; he says he has sometimes seen it before...he says it is an omen, lady, and bodes no good."
"And what harm can it bode?" rejoined Emily.
"He knows not so much as that, lady."
— Vol. III, Ch. IV, The Mysteries of Udolpho
In the 1864 novel
On the mast already I see the light play of a lambent St. Elmo's fire; the outstretched sail catches not a breath of wind, and hangs like a sheet of lead.
In Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, Starbuck points out "corpusants" during a thunder storm in the Japanese sea in chapter 119, "The Candles".
St. Elmo's fire makes an appearance in
The phenomenon appears in the first stanza of Robert Hayden's poem "The Ballad of Nat Turner";[40] it is also referred to with the term "corposant" in the first section of his long poem "Middle Passage".[41]
In
In Robert Aickman's story "Niemandswasser" (1975), the protagonist, Prince Albrecht von Allendorf, is "known as Elmo to his associates, because of the fire which to them emanated from him". "There was an inspirational force in Elmo of which the sensitive soon became aware, and which had led to his Spottname or nickname."
In On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder, St. Elmo's fire is seen by the girls and Ma during one of the blizzards. It was described as coming down the stove pipe and rolling across the floor following Ma's knitting needles; it did not burn the floor (pages 309–310). The phenomenon as described, however, is more similar to ball lightning.
In Voyager, the third major novel in Diana Gabaldon's popular Outlander series, the primary characters experience St. Elmo's fire while lost at sea in a thunderstorm between Hispaniola and coastal Georgia.
St. Elmo's fire is also mentioned in the novel, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques.
It is referenced multiple times in the novel Pet Sematary by Stephen King.
In television
On the children's television series The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982), episode four shows St. Elmo's fire affecting the ship as it sailed past the Strait of Magellan. The real-life footage at the end of the episode has snippets of an interview with Japanese sailor Fukunari Imada, whose comments were translated to: "Although I've never seen St. Elmo's fire, I'd certainly like to. It was often considered a bad omen, as it played havoc with compasses and equipment". The TV series also referred to St. Elmo's fire as being a bad omen during the cartoon. The footage was captured as part of his winning solo yacht race in 1981.[42]
On the American television series Rawhide, in a 1959 episode titled "Incident of the Blue Fire", cattle drovers on a stormy night see St. Elmo's fire glowing on the horns of their steers, which the men regard as a deadly omen.[43] St. Elmo's fire is also referenced in a 1965 episode of Bonanza in which religious pilgrims staying on the Cartwright property believe an experience with St. Elmo's fire is the work of Satan.[44][45]
On the Netflix original Singaporean animated series Trese (2021), the Santelmo (St. Elmo's Fire) is one of the protagonist's, Alexandra Trese's, allies whom she contacts using her old Nokia phone, dialing the date of the Great Binondo fire, 0003231870.
In film]
- In Moby Dick (1956), St. Elmo's fire stops Captain Ahab from killing Starbuck.
- In The Last Sunset (1961), outlaw/cowhand Brendan "Bren" O'Malley (Kirk Douglas) rides in from the herd and leads the recently widowed Belle Breckenridge (Dorothy Malone) to an overview of the cattle. As he takes the rifle from her, he proclaims, "Something out there, you could live five lifetimes, and never see again," the audience is then shown a shot of the cattle with a blue or violet glow coming from their horns. "Look. St. Elmo's fire. Never seen it except on ships," O'Malley says as Belle says, "I've never seen it anywhere. What is it?" Trying to win her back, he says, "Well, a star fell and smashed and scattered its glow all over the place."
- In St. Elmo's Fire (1985), Rob Lowe's character Billy Hicks erroneously claims that the phenomenon is "not even a real thing."
- In the Western miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989–1990), lightning strikes a herd of cattle during a storm, causing their horns to glow blue.
- In Lars von Trier's 2011 film Melancholia, the phenomenon features in the opening sequence and later in the film as the rogue planet Melancholia approaches Earth for an impact event.
- In Robert Eggers's 2019 horror film The Lighthouse, it appears in reference to the mysterious salvation that lighthouse keeper Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) is hiding from Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) inside the Fresnel lens of the lantern.
In music
- Brian Eno's third studio album Another Green World (1975) contains a song titled "St. Elmo's Fire" in which guesting King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp (credited with playing "Wimshurst guitar" in the liner notes) improvises a lightning-fast solo that would imitate an electrical charge between two poles on a Wimshurst high-voltage generator.
- "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" is a song recorded by John Parr. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 7 September 1985, remaining there for two weeks. It was the main theme for Joel Schumacher's 1985 film St. Elmo's Fire.
- "St. Elmo's Fire" by Michael Franks.
- The Sammarinese entry for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv "Spirit of the Night" contains references to St. Elmo's Fire.
- "St. Elmo's Fire" is mentioned in Bowling For Soup's 2004 song "1985". The lyrics contain, "She's seen all the classics, she knows every line / Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, even St. Elmo's Fire."
See also
- Earthquake light
- Foo fighter, WWII UFO observations
- Hessdalen lights
- Naga fireball, rising from Mekong River
- Plasma globe
- Stellar Corona
- Triboelectric effect
- Will-o'-the-wisp
Notes
- ^ The term was also used for a special wicker basket used at the cult of Artemis at Brauron in Attica.[13]
- ^ Known as 'Castor and Pollux' in Latin; Homeric Hymn 33 describes a generic epiphany of these fraternal heroes, collectively called the Dioskouroi, in the midst of a storm at sea. Here they are said to rush through the air "with tawny wings" and to bring relief to terrified mariners.
- ^ It was of high significance that this was during the period of extraordinary atmospheric effects and dramatic reduction in temperatures following an earlier series of massive volcano eruptions that were ultimately responsible for the Year Without a Summer.
- ^ Braid also writes that one of his friends had a similar experience on the evening of the preceding Saturday: in which, his friend reported, he had seen "his horse's ears being the same as two burning candles, and the edges of his hat being all in a flame" (p. 471).
References
- Folklore; Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 286-290 (5 pages); Pub: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
- ^ Heidorn, Keith C. (30 May 1998). "Weather Phenomenon and Elements: The Fire Of St. Elmo". Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Pilots capture rare weather phenomenon from cockpit (video: 00:25)". BBC News. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- PMID 25498265.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-3131-2.[page needed]
- ISBN 978-0-06-621173-2.[page needed]
- ^ "What causes the strange glow known as St. Elmo's Fire? Is this phenomenon related to ball lightning?". Scientific American. 22 September 1997. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ Van Doren, Carl (1938). Benjamin Franklin. New York: The Viking Press. p. 159. Quoted text from May 1751 letter published in Gentleman's Magazine. Excerpt at "Franklin – The Scientist". Archived from the original on 30 April 2001. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ Additional reference may be made from Yale University's collection, "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin". Archived from the original on 14 February 2006.
- ^ "How airplanes counteract St. Elmo's Fire during thunderstorms". ScienceDaily. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- S2CID 225244964.
- ^ Lyd. Ost. 5
- ^ (Poll. 10.191)
- ^ "The Elements and Their Inhabitants". 16 May 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008.
- ^ a b Trevelyan, Marie (1909). "The Sea, Lakes, Rivers and Wells". Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007 – via V Wales.
- ^ "Will With A Wisp: John Brand (1777)". inamidst.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ISBN 9780486120553. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ Toll, I.W. (2020). Twilight of the Gods. War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York.
- ^ "Storm Electricity Aspects of the Blackwell/Udall Storm of May 25, 1955 – Don Burgess, University of Oklahoma (CIMMS)". Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
- ^ Wescott et al. (1996) "The optical spectrum of aircraft St. Elmo's fire", Geophys. Res. Lett., 23(25), pp. 3687–90.
- ^ "Peru95 - sprite observations over the upper Amazon". Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2016 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ Wise, Jeff (1 June 2020). "What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ "Final Report On the accident on 1st June 2009 to the Airbus A330-203 registered F-GZCP operated by Air France flight AF 447 Rio de Janeiro – Paris." Archived 12 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses. N.p., July 2012. 12 March 2014
- ISBN 978-1-60384306-5.
- ^ ISBN 0-521-05801-5.
- ^ "Corposants" Archived 26 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine The American Heritage Dictionary
- ^ Markham, Albert (1880). Voyages and Works of John Davis. The Hakluyt Society. p. 164.
- ^ "Ballooning History, Who's Who". Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ "William Noah 'A Voyage to Sydney in New South Wales in 1798 & 1799' and 'A Few Remarks of the County of Cumberland in New South Wales, 1798-1799". State Library of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ Braid, J. (1817). "Account of a Thunder Storm in the Neighbourhood of Leadhills, Lanarkshire". Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 5. pp. 471–72.
- ^ "San Francisco, CA Weather Facts". Myforecast.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
- ^ Darwin Correspondence Project, Letter 178 – Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., July 23 – August 15 1832 Archived 3 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dana, Richard Henry Jr., (1840) Two Years Before the Mast. Chapter 33.
- ISBN 0-932-81319-4.[page needed]
- ^ Robinson, Douglas. LZ-129 Hindenburg. New York: Arco, 1964.[page needed]
- ^ Laurence, William L. (9 September 1945). "Eyewitness Account of Atomic Bomb Over Nagasaki". atomicarchive.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- ^ "Alcaeus". Wesleyan University. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- ^ "Homeric Hymns 5–33". Theoi Greek Mythology. Archived from the original on 20 November 2006. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ "Gesta Herwardi, Chapter XXIX". Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
- ^ Hayden, Robert. "The Ballad of Nat Turner". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ Hayden, Robert. "Middle Passage". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
- ^ "Japanese wins solo yacht race across Pacific". Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- ^ "Incident of the Blue Fire" Archived 13 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Rawhide (S02E11), originally aired 11 December 1959. TV.com. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Devil on Her Shoulder" Archived 26 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Bonanza (S07E06), originally aired 17 October 1965. Entire episode is available for viewing on YouTube. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Devil on Her Shoulder" Archived 24 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved 23 April 2017.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Elmo's Fire.
- ^ The term was also used for a special wicker basket used at the cult of Artemis at Brauron in Attica.[13]
- ^ Known as 'Castor and Pollux' in Latin; Homeric Hymn 33 describes a generic epiphany of these fraternal heroes, collectively called the Dioskouroi, in the midst of a storm at sea. Here they are said to rush through the air "with tawny wings" and to bring relief to terrified mariners.
- ^ It was of high significance that this was during the period of extraordinary atmospheric effects and dramatic reduction in temperatures following an earlier series of massive volcano eruptions that were ultimately responsible for the Year Without a Summer.
- ^ Braid also writes that one of his friends had a similar experience on the evening of the preceding Saturday: in which, his friend reported, he had seen "his horse's ears being the same as two burning candles, and the edges of his hat being all in a flame" (p. 471).
- Folklore; Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 286-290 (5 pages); Pub: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
- ^ Heidorn, Keith C. (30 May 1998). "Weather Phenomenon and Elements: The Fire Of St. Elmo". Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Pilots capture rare weather phenomenon from cockpit (video: 00:25)". BBC News. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- PMID 25498265.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-3131-2.[page needed]
- ISBN 978-0-06-621173-2.[page needed]
- ^ "What causes the strange glow known as St. Elmo's Fire? Is this phenomenon related to ball lightning?". Scientific American. 22 September 1997. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ Van Doren, Carl (1938). Benjamin Franklin. New York: The Viking Press. p. 159. Quoted text from May 1751 letter published in Gentleman's Magazine. Excerpt at "Franklin – The Scientist". Archived from the original on 30 April 2001. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ Additional reference may be made from Yale University's collection, "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin". Archived from the original on 14 February 2006.
- ^ "How airplanes counteract St. Elmo's Fire during thunderstorms". ScienceDaily. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- S2CID 225244964.
- ^ Lyd. Ost. 5
- ^ (Poll. 10.191)
- ^ "The Elements and Their Inhabitants". 16 May 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008.
- ^ a b Trevelyan, Marie (1909). "The Sea, Lakes, Rivers and Wells". Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007 – via V Wales.
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