Spherical Plasmoids Formed upon the Combustion and Explosion of Nanostructured Hydrated Silicon

Abstract

The kinetics of the combustion and explosion of nanostructured hydrated porous silicon has been analyzed in a duration range from 100 µs to 1 s. It has been shown that the presence of hydrogen in silicon nanostructures increases the energy yield of oxidation processes leading to the formation of spherical plasmoids with a size of 0.1–0.8 m. Buoyancy in them can be compensated by the weight of the material particles formed inside and this compensation leads to a change in the velocity of plasmoids from 0.5 m/s to zero in the process of their cooling. It is hypothesized that a ball lightning appears due to the combustion and explosion of nanostructured hydrated silicon in spherical plasmoids.