Could ball-lightning weapons be feasible in the future?

[Lren Zvsm]

In cinematic space opera (like Star Wars movies, Star Trek movies, and their many knock-offs) we frequently see weapons that fire mysterious glowing packets of unspecified but dangerous energy or plasma or stuff that somehow move slowly enough for the human eye to track their motion. References to "plasma rifles" comes to mind. https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/3348/plausible-plasma-weapons

Currently, energy weapons require too much power, generate too much heat, are too fragile, and involve the use of highly toxic chemicals. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter

So how might future weapons-makers weaponize ball-lightning? I am NOT asking for a definitive answer--only your speculation. I expect the speculations to vary across the people who post on this thread. Would weaponizing ball lightning be impossible in principle? If not, would the technical barriers to realizing this goal be too obvious too early in the project? Or could a ball-lightning weapon happen within the next 200 years? I'm not talking hand-held necessarily, but it would be cool if that were possible.

 

[phinds]

Have you done any research into ball lightning experiments?

 

[Lren Zvsm]

No! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Lren Zvsm]

I found an article on this subject in Wired Magazine. I even got an (imaginary) phaser with a stun setting. :-D https://www.wired.com/2009/02/great-balls-of/

 

[Rive]

So how might future weapons-makers weaponize ball-lightning?

I think it is a 'no'. Lightning - plasma maintained by current - is by default not stable. It needs extensive equipment to keep it temporarily stable => usable.
For a weapon you need something what can travel some distance 'alone' without falling apart.

Plasma alone a slightly less unlikely. But lightning? No.

 

[DrStupid]

So how might future weapons-makers weaponize ball-lightning?

Nobody knows what future weapons-makers do, but maybe there are possible applications. This paper sounds like ball-lightnings have some properties that could make them interesting for weapon design:

The microwave bubble decays silently once the internal radiation is exhausted. When it is strongly disturbed or pierced by a conductor, the leaking radiation can launch a shock wave like an explosion.

Our self-organized microwave bubble can have the same potential to persist for a scale of seconds. Zheng calculated that hundreds of joule microwaves can maintain the plasma shell of the bubble for a few seconds.

A possible application that comes in my mind would be a barrier consisting of ball-lightnings emitted by devices installed in the ground (like bubble guns). Of course a deployable electrified fence would do the job as well but we are talking about science-fiction and a curtain of ball-lightnings fits better to the Rule of Cool.

 

[russ_watters]

Currently, energy weapons require too much power, generate too much heat, are too fragile, and involve the use of highly toxic chemicals. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter

The power and heat issues are pretty much inherent as the goal of most weapons is to transfer a lot of energy, quickly. Also, toxic chemicals are good for that.

So how might future weapons-makers weaponize ball-lightning? I am NOT asking for a definitive answer--only your speculation.

I don't think there's an established theory for what ball lightning is yet, so speculation about harnessing/creating it artificially is especially difficult.