Adapted from Wikimedia Commons "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 "... sometime I'ld divide, And burn in many places; on the topmast, The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, Then meet and join." — William Shakespeare, The Tempest "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." —Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner The tale of a blue-white ghostly glow appearing on a dark and stormy night is littered throughout our history and story books. What's remarkable is the uniformity of the account: often during a thunderstorm, an eerie blue flame would appear and disappear on the tips of ship masts and yet would not burn.
brought to you by the American Physical Society