Decoding the phenomenon of "ghosts" that once made many people shiver at night

Scientists reveal the real cause of “ghost lights” – mysterious rays of light once thought to be supernatural, now have a reasonable explanation.

For hundreds of years, researchers have tried to decode the mysterious phenomenon of "will-o'-the-wisp". According to eyewitness accounts, blue flames occasionally appear in swamps and cemeteries at night. Photo: Picture Art Collection via Alamy.

According to some folklore, the mysterious "ghost lights" phenomenon is believed to be caused by the souls of children and the ghostly light is intended to mislead passersby. Photo: Richard N. Zare.

Scientists have long suspected that the phenomenon of "ghost lights" originates from a chemical reaction in methane gas released from decomposing organic matter. However, they have not been able to explain how the methane gas ignites. Photo: Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images.

New research published in the journal PNAS explains the mysterious "ghost lights" phenomenon that appears when "micro lightning" flashes between charged methane bubbles. When many methane bubbles are oxidized and combine, they create a strange light that people call the "ghost lights" phenomenon. Photo: en.futuroprossimo.it.

“This is a really exciting advance. It reveals the mechanism that initiates chemical reactions,” said James Anderson, a chemist at Harvard University. He said the reaction-triggering power of microscopic methane bubbles could also help explain how essential biomolecules formed before life emerged. Photo: en.futuroprossimo.it.

In recent years, Richard Zare, a chemist at Stanford University, and his colleagues have studied how tiny bubbles, measuring only nanometers to micrometers, can create strong electric fields that initiate chemical reactions. Photo: en.futuroprossimo.it.

According to Dr. Zare, a paradox is that fire is extinguished by water but small drops of water can create fire. Photo: woodlarking.

Using a high-speed camera running at 24,000 frames per second, Dr. Zare and his colleagues captured electrical sparks running between the surfaces of tiny, electrically charged bubbles. When the oppositely charged bubbles come together, electrons jump from the negatively charged surface to the positively charged surface, creating an electrical spark. Photo: unbound-reality.fandom.com.

In previous research, Dr. Zare and other researchers have shown that electrically charged water droplets measuring 1 micron to 20 microns in diameter, smaller than the width of a human hair, can create tiny lightning bolts that are powerful enough to form organic molecules. Photo: Karen B. Jones.

Swamp gas is about two-thirds methane, and when it reacts with oxygen, the oxidized methane glows a blue-purple color. However, methane does not spontaneously combust in the presence of oxygen. New research suggests that the “ghost lights” are caused by tiny lightning bolts between charged methane bubbles in the water. Photo: halloweenartistbazaar.com.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Behind the success of scientists. Source: VTV24.

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