A sea voyage even today on a modern liner can be a risky undertaking. The element is stronger than man and technology. And what was it like for sailors who went to uncharted lands on fragile sailboats? Who was to be counted on, to whom to call for help during terrible storms?
Since ancient times, the sailors of the Mediterranean rejoiced and calmed down when an inexplicable glow appeared on the masts of sailing ships in bad weather. This meant that their patron saint Elm had taken them under protection.
The dancers spoke of the strengthening of the storm, and the motionless fires of St. Elmo spoke of the weakening.
Saint Elmo
Memorial day of the Catholic martyr Elmo, who is also known as Erasmus (Ermo) of Antioch or Formia, is celebrated on June 2. The relics of the saint are in the temple of his name in Gaeta (Italy), he died in neighboring Formia in 303. The legend says that he was martyred - the executioners wound his insides aroundwinch. This item remained as an attribute of the saint, with which he came to the aid of sailors in trouble.
Cold Flame
The fire at the tips of the masts was described as a candle flame or fireworks, tassels or balls of pale blue or purple. The size of these lights is amazing - from 10 centimeters to a meter! Sometimes it seemed that the entire rigging was covered with phosphorus and glowed. The radiance may have been accompanied by a hissing or whistling sound.
Attempts to break off part of the tackle and move the flame failed - from the wreckage the fire rose to the mast. Nothing ignited from the flame, it did not burn anyone, although it shone for quite a long time - from several minutes to an hour or more.
Historical information
The ancient Greeks called this glow "Castor and Pollux", "Helena". There is also such a name for the lights: Corpus Santos, "Saint Hermes", "Saint Nicholas". ", the writings of Melville ("Moby Dick") and Shakespeare speak of sailors' encounters with lights.
The chronicle of the circumnavigation of Ferdinand Magellan tells: “During those storms, St. Elmo himself appeared to us many times in the form of light … extremely dark nights on the mainmast, where he remained for two or more hours, saving us from despondency”.
Familiar not only to sailors
Not only on ships, but also on the spiers and corners of buildings, flagpoles, lampposts, lightning rods and otherstall objects and structures with sharp ends, the fires of St. Elmo light up.
Pilots of aircraft are also familiar with this phenomenon. On the propellers, pointed tips of the wings and the fuselage of an airliner flying near the clouds, brush-like discharges may appear - the fires of St. Elmo. A photo of James Ashby, the crew commander, taken one day during a thunderstorm while landing in Phnom Penh, shows a blue glow on the nose of the aircraft.
At the same time, strong static radio interference occurs. It has been argued that it was this fire that ignited the hydrogen and caused the huge and luxurious airship Hindenburg to crash in May 1937.
Alpinists are well acquainted with the fires of St. Elmo. When they enter a thundercloud, a glowing halo may appear overhead, fingertips glow, flames drip from ice axes. Observers say that even the tops of trees, the horns of bulls and deer, and tall grass glow in a thunderstorm.
Mysterious Effects
Nature gives people a lot of interesting things to solve. Everyone knows that such phenomena as a rainbow, a halo (three suns) in frost, a mirage in heat are optical tricks of the atmosphere that creates prisms and mirrors in the air that refract and reflect light.
The mesmerizing blue and green flashes of the aurora create a disturbance in the Earth's electromagnetic fields. The electricity of the atmosphere is responsible for the fires of St. Elmo.
Scientific explanation
So what's uprepresent the fires of Saint Elmo? What is the nature of this phenomenon? Mythology retreated before Benjamin Franklin's 1749 explanation. It was he who described how a lightning rod draws heavenly "electric fire" from a cloud at a distance even before the strike occurs. The glow at the tip of the device is St. Elmo's fire.
Atmospheric electricity ionizes the air, around pointed objects the concentration of ions becomes maximum. Ionized plasma begins to glow, but, unlike lightning, it stands still and does not move.
The color of the plasma depends on the composition of the ionized gas. Nitrogen and oxygen, which make up the majority of the atmosphere, create a light blue glow.
Corona discharge
A corona, or glow, discharge occurs if the potential of the electric field in the air is not uniform, and around a single object it becomes more than 1 kV/cm. In good weather, this value is a thousand times less. At the beginning of the formation of thunderclouds, it rises to 5 volts / cm. A lightning strike is a discharge of more than 10 kilovolts per centimeter.
The magnitude of the potential is not uniformly distributed in the atmosphere - it is greater near pointed objects at a height.
It becomes clear that the proximity of a thunderstorm (or tornado) creates a potential in the atmosphere sufficient for the emergence of an ion avalanche, causing a bluish glow of pointed objects located on a hill. Sandstorm and volcanic eruption tooionize the air and can cause this phenomenon.
Tamed Glow
Modern man does not have to go sailing or flying during a thunderstorm to look at the glow of ionized gas, which is what the fires of St. Elmo are. What it is - can be seen in a conventional fluorescent lamp, neon and other halogen lamps.
Airplanes have to install devices that prevent atmospheric electricity from accumulating on the surface and creating interference. But although romance and myths are replaced by everyday life, interest and excitement associated with unusual natural phenomena will never leave a person. The mysterious blue lights of Saint Elmo will capture the imagination of travelers and interested readers.
