Santelmo

Infobox Philippine mythology


title = Santelmo or St. Elmo's Fire
description = Fireball
gender = Male/female
region = Philippines
equivalent = The Santelmo (St. Elmo's Fire) is a creature of Philippine mythology. The term "santelmo" is the shorten form of "St. Elmo's Fire". St. Elmo's Fire has long served as an omen of heavenly intervention to sailors. The ancient Greeks termed a single jet of the fire, Helena, and a double jet, Castor and Pollux. It has also been known by the names St. Nicholas and St. Hermes, corpusante and Corpus Santos. The name of St. Elmo is attributed to an Italian derivation of Sant 'Ermo or St. Erasmus (circa 300 A.D.), the patron saint of the early Mediterranean sailors challenging the powers of storm and sea in small sailing vessels. [cite web | last = | first = | title =The Fire Of St. Elmo| url=http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/stelmo.htm| accessdate = 2008-08-9 ]

Physical Appearance

St. Elmo's Fire have ranged from a ghostly dancing flame to natural fireworks. It usually is of a blue or bluish-white colour attached to fixed, grounded conductors and has a lifetime of minutes. The flame is heatless and non-consuming, occasionally accompanied by a hissing sound. These latter properties promote the myths of spiritual presence. The biblical burning bush that was not consumed may have been displaying one form of St. Elmo's Fire. [cite web | last = | first = | title =The Fire Of St. Elmo| url=http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/stelmo.htm| accessdate = 2008-08-9 ]

cientific Explanation

Ball lightning is a natural phenomenon, or debatably, a pseudoscientific theory. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms. It takes the form of a long-lived, glowing, floating object, as opposed to the short-lived arcing between two points commonly associated with lightning. An early attempt to explain ball lightning was recorded by Nikola Tesla on March 5, 1904 (Electrical World and Engineer). [cite web | last = | first = | title =St. Elmo's Fire| url=http://www.experiencefestival.com/st_elmos_fire| accessdate = 2008-08-9 ]

There may, however, be special forms of plasma for which the above arguments do not fully apply. In particular, a plasma may be composed of negative and positive ions, rather than electrons and positive ions. In that case, the recombination may be rather slow even at ambient temperature. One such theory involves positively charged hydrogen and negatively charged nitrites (NO2–) and nitrates (NO3–). In that theory, the role of the ions as seeds for the condensation of water droplets plays an important role. [cite web | last = | first = | title =Ball lightning - Analysis| url=http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Ball_lightning/id/1926005| accessdate = 2008-08-9 ]

Ball lightning has also been seen to appear inside an aircraft, which has a metallic skin. Since the electric field cannot penetrate metal, there is a possibility ball lightning could be some form of induction phenomenon.

References