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Article
Mass Spectrometry of Atmospheric-Pressure Ball Plasmoids
International Journal of Mass Spectrometry
  • Scott E. Dubowsky, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • David M. Friday, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Kevin C. Peters, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Zhangji Zhao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Richard H. Perry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Benjamin J. McCall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-15-2015
Keywords
  • Plasma,
  • Plasmoid,
  • Mass spectrometry,
  • Ambient ionization,
  • Ball lightning
Abstract

Ball lightning is a naturally occurring atmospheric event that has perplexed researchers for centuries, and there is to date no complete explanation (chemical, physical, or otherwise) as to why ball lightning behaves the way that it does. There has been considerable effort to try to both produce and measure the properties of ball lightning type discharges over recent years, and this collected work has begun to reveal some interesting physical and chemical phenomena. We are able to produce water-based plasma ball discharges using high-voltage equipment, and these self-contained plasmoids are considered to be similar to natural ball lightning. In this article we present the first mass spectrometric analysis of water-based ambient ball plasmoids. Using an extremely simple sampling technique, we were able to detect several chemical species within the interior of the plasmoid. Several molecules that are common to plasmas generated in air were observed in the mass spectra, such as [NO2]+and [NO3]+. More interestingly, we observed the protonated water clusters [(H2O)2H]+ and [(H2O)3H]+, ammonia (NH3) as a component of a copper cluster, and several anions. Furthermore, many species observed in the mass spectra are in the form of hydrated clusters.

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©2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

DOI
10.1016/j.ijms.2014.11.011
Citation Information
Scott E. Dubowsky, David M. Friday, Kevin C. Peters, Zhangji Zhao, et al.. "Mass Spectrometry of Atmospheric-Pressure Ball Plasmoids" International Journal of Mass Spectrometry Vol. 376 (2015) p. 39 - 45 ISSN: 1387-3806
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/richard-perry/18/