

How to make a Stable Plasmoid ( Ball Lightning )

with the GMR v1.0 ( G raphite M icrowave R esonator )

by Jean-Louis Naudin

Cliquez ici pour la version Française

created on March 1st, 2003 - JLN Labs - Last update December 22, 2005

Toutes les informations et schémas sont publiés gratuitement ( freeware ) et sont destinés à un usage personnel et non commercial

All informations and diagrams are published freely (freeware) and are intended for a private use and a non commercial use.

The purpose of this experiment is to maintain a stable plasmoid ( a ball lightning ) at one atmosphere in a spherical glass vessel. This experiment uses a kind of electronic trigger which is the GMR v1.0 ( G raphite M icrowave R esonator ) placed in a microwave oven working at 2.45 GHz. A magnetron is compact, has a light weight ( compared to a HV transformer with the same output power ) and it is a high power device. It is able to produce a great amount of power in a small volume most particularly in a plasmoid. A plasmoid is a great source of ions and can be very useful for EHD, MHD and Electrokinetic devices such as the Lifter .... A successful experiment has already been conducted on February 27th, 2002 with a quarter wave antenna made with aluminium. The previous design has been improved and the aluminum antenna has now been replaced by a graphite antenna, this new resonator is now called the GMR ( Graphite Microwave Resonator ). The cloud of carbon emitted by the antenna absorbs the major part the microwave energy. So the GMR is able to produce a very high density plasma in a small volume.

The GMR v 1.0 is a microwave resonator composed with a small quater wave antenna mounted on an artificial ground surface. The frequency of the magnetron is 2.45 GHz, its wave length is l = 12.2 cm, this gives the height of the 1/4 wave microwave antenna : l /4 = 3 cm and the ground base diameter : l /2 = 6 cm.

You will notice, if you conduct yourself this experiment, that the plasmoid remains very stable as long as the microwave oven is running. Below, you will find the full details and the explanation about this experiment :

Materiel requirement :

A microwave oven which is able to produce about 700 Watts of microwave power,

A small piece of aluminum sheet, 5/10 mm thick and about 10x10 cm,

A piece of adhesive aluminum or a cyanoacrylate glue tube,

A small glass of water,

Some pencil graphite leads ( 2mm diameter, type HB N°2 ),

A spherical glass vessel ( Pyrex (Tm) is recommended ), about 110 mm diameter.

How to build the GMR V 1.0 :

1) Cut a 60 mm diameter disk in the aluminum sheet,

2) Cut a small rectangle 10x15 mm in the aluminum sheet,

3) Bend this small piece of aluminum as shown in the photo below to build the mounting base of the antenna,

3) Cut a length of 30 mm in a 2mm pencil lead, one of its extremities must be sharpened ( see the photo below ).

4) Fix the mounting base in the middle of the aluminum disk with a piece of adhesive aluminum or cyanoacrylate glue.

5) Then insert the graphite antenna in the mounting base, as shown in the photo below.

Your GMR v1.0 is finished and now, your plasmoid generation experiment is ready to begin...

Warning : Don't forget that the Plasmoid generates ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxydes ( NO and NO2), so you need to do this experiment in an open and well ventiled area . If you do it the risk of any results is just yours. I take no responsibility of anything that might happen.

Plasmoid launching sequence :

Open the windows so as to get a well ventiled area. Put your GMR in the middle of the microwave oven and cover it with the spherical vessel. Put a small glass of water ( optional ) as shown in the photo above. The glass of water is used to protect the magnetron, it will avoid that an eventual excess of power overheat its anode. In the photo above, you may notice that the rotating plate and its axis has been removed, this can be done easily. Close the microwave door. Set the microwave power to max power. Set the countdown timer to 10 seconds. Push the ON Button... Then....Watch and hear the plasmoid in action...

It is recommended to wait some minutes between each test. This will avoid that the magnetron overheat too much.



On the pictures above : the ignition sequence of the plasmoid.

Additional notes : After a test run, the glass vessel is only a bit warm. As you may notice in the photo above, the plasmoid is not in contact with the glass.

You will see, in the small MPEG video below, that the plasmoid turns counter-clockwise at a very high speed. There is a small air cushion, induced by the rotation, around the plasmoid which protect the glass vessel from the high temperature of the plasma. This is not a cold plasma, the plasmoid ( is really hot in its core ). The diameter and the spherical shape of the glass vessel is really important to get a such effect. In this test, I have used a 110 mm diameter glass vessel.

Click here to see a small video ( in MPEG format ) with the plasmoid sound ( in repeat mode )



The photo above has been taken after two test runs, you may notice that the graphite antenna is barely consumed.

See the videos of a STABLE Plasmoid in action

To see the video, the free downloadable RealPlayer is required

You may download free the RealPlayer 8 Basic at : http://proforma.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html



Click on the picture above to see the video ( 797 Kb )

I shall be very glad to publish all successful plasmoid replications in my web site so, don't hesitate to send me some photos of your experiments.

See also :

Plasmoid ( ball lightning ) with a microwave resonator

Email : JNaudin509@aol.com