2023-05-01 20:00:00
“Everything was on fire, there was lightning in the sky and luminous particles in the water; even the masts themselves were crowned with a flame“. Although both Julio Verne as Herman Melville referred to this meteorological phenomenon in their writings, the words that begin these lines are not the result of the inventiveness of either of the two writers. Who signs the quote, part of a letter written to the botanist J. S. Henslow, is none other than the naturalist and father of the theory of Evolution, Charles Darwin.
The phenomenon to which Darwin referred was the so-called Saint Elmo’s fire“which the ancient Greeks interpreted as the presence of the demigods,” he continued in his letter.
Christopher Columbus he also encountered St. Elmo’s fire on October 26, 1493, during his second voyage to the East Indies. His son Hernando collected the facts in the following way: “the same Saturday night the fire of San Telmo was seen, with seven lit candles, on top of the topsail. With a lot of rain and terrifying thunder. I mean, you could see the lights that The sailors claim to be the body of Saint Elmo, to whom they sing many litanies and prayers, taking it for granted that in the storms where he appears, nothing can be endangered”.
The mystery of ball lightning
Between myth and legend, St. Elmo’s fire is a meteorological phenomenon that has intrigued humanity for centuries. Its name comes from the Catholic tradition; The first to document the phenomenon were the sailors, who soon related it to their patron saint and protector, San Telmo, to whom they attributed the ability to protect them during storms. Sailors, in fact, believed that Saint Elmo’s fire was a sign that the saint was protecting them at sea, watching over them and guiding them back to land. For this reason, the phenomenon, to which magical properties were attributed, very soon became a symbol of good luck for sailors.
But despite its importance in popular culture, St. Elmo’s fire remains a relatively poorly understood phenomenon. Researchers who have studied the phenomenon have tried to recreate it in laboratories and under controlled conditions, but to this day much is still unknown about its origin and effects.
CC
However, there are some things that science can explain about this strange weather phenomenon. In fact, today we know that Saint Elmo’s fire is an electrical phenomenon caused by the ionization of air, which occurs when a large amount of static electricity accumulates in the atmosphere. The phenomenon is more common during electrical storms, however it can also occur in other situations in which an intense electric field is produced.
Thus, when an electrical discharge, such as lightning, occurs, it ionizes the air around a conductive object, such as a ship’s mast or an antenna, creating a visible electrical current and releasing charged electrons and ions, creating a plasma that it emits visible light in the blue-violet spectrum, which appears to give the impression of a flame.
Plasma: the fourth state of matter
Although the phenomenon is fascinating, beautiful to observe and for centuries it has been attributed the ability to protect sailors or to be a design of the gods, the reality is that it can represent a danger to ships and aircraft due to the interference of electricity with electronic systems, as well as the possibility of causing electrical discharges capable of causing both injuries and property damage. “Indeed, the arms of the gates were surrounded by a livid fire, and the triple needles of the lightning rods glowed with three tongues of fire. The entire masts seemed to burn. Saint Elmo’s fire, have mercy on us!” wrote Herman Melville in Moby Dick.
And it is that despite scientific advances, the San Telmo fire continues to be a phenomenon that reminds us of the magnitude and complexity of nature, and of all that we still have to discover and understand.
#spectacle #nature #inspires #myths #legends