do any of you guys know what St. Elmo's fire is?

Question

I know it happens at sea and it involes electricity !

Answer 1

st elmo's fire is a fire at st elmo's....st elmo's is a hotel in
st elmo texas were elmo came from he was made a saint for putting up with people who asked really idiotic questions on 16th century yahoo

Answer 2

St. Elmo's Fire is commonly thought of as static electric discharges, but Kathy T is also right. In the anthracite coal regions of NE Pennsylvania, where I grew up, methane gas would seep up through the ground from the coal mines and produce a sudued glow, or "burning". It was called "St. Elmo's Fire" and was eeriely beautiful to see.

Answer 3

St. Elmo's Fire is an electrical weather phenomenon in which visible plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms or thunderstorms created by a volcanic explosion).

St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors (who sometimes held its appearance to be auspicious). Alternatively, Peter Gonzalez is said to be the St. Elmo after whom St. Elmo's fire has its name.

Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire. They are separate and distinct meteorological phenomena.[
Physically, St. Elmo's Fire is a bright blue or violet glow, appearing like fire in some circumstances, from tall, sharply pointed structures such as lightning rods, masts, spires and chimneys, and on aircraft wings. St. Elmo's Fire can also appear on leaves, grass, and even at the tips of cattle horns[2]. Often accompanying the glow is a distinct hissing or buzzing sound.

In 1750, Benjamin Franklin hypothesized that a pointed iron rod during a lightning storm would light up at the tip, similar in appearance to St. Elmo's fire

Answer 4

St. Elmo's Fire is an electrical weather phenomenon in which visible plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms or thunderstorms created by a volcanic explosion).

St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors (who sometimes held its appearance to be auspicious). Alternatively, Peter Gonzalez is said to be the St. Elmo after whom St. Elmo's fire has its name.

Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire. They are separate and distinct meteorological phenomena.

Answer 5

St. Elmo's Fire is an electrical weather phenomenon in which visible plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms or thunderstorms created by a volcanic explosion).

St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors (who sometimes held its appearance to be auspicious). Alternatively, Peter Gonzalez is said to be the St. Elmo after whom St. Elmo's fire has its name.

Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire. They are separate and distinct meteorological phenomena.

Answer 6

here`s the full run down... .

electrical weather phenomenon in which visible plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms or thunderstorms created by a volcanic explosion).

St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors (who sometimes held its appearance to be auspicious). Alternatively, Peter Gonzalez is said to be the St. Elmo after whom St. Elmo's fire has its name.

Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire. They are separate and distinct meteorological phenomena.

look in Wikipedia if you have questions, g`teed the correct answer.

Answer 7

think about it - a ship is the highest point for miles around at sea. so if static electiricty is gathering on the sea surface and wants to go upwards, where does it acculmulate? at the tops of the masts! St elmo's fire. a plasma of ionised air.

Or, St elmo's hemorrhoids

Answer 8

Its like lightning that cause a glow at the top of a mast of a ship, meant to be good luck to sailors , st Elmo being a patron saint of sailors , this answer could be rubbish , its from memory , and ive a few in.

Answer 9

The phenomenon is scientifically known as a corona or point discharge. It occurs on objects, especially pointed ones, when the electrical field potential strength reaches about one thousand volts per centimetre. (When the electrical potential field is great enough to overcome the resistance of medium across which it occurs, a current of electrons will result (Ohm's Law).) During fair weather, the electrical field strength of the atmosphere is about 1 volt per centimetre. In the initial stages of cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) formation, however, the field increases to 5 volts per centimetre, and just before a lightning flash, reaches ten thousand volts per centimetre. Thus, the atmospheric electrical field is only strong enough, under normal circumstances, to produce St. Elmo's Fire during thundery weather. When the storm is particularly heavily charged, leaves, blades of grass and even the horns of cattle may glow at their tips. In fact, the glow of St. Elmo's Fire has often been observed on sharp objects in the vicinity of tornadoes.

Hope that helps you out.

Answer 10

I thought it was another name for marsh gas (methane) which can ignite spontaneously making an eerie glow out on the marshes at night - but that could be will-o-the-wisp too.

Oh, if it happens at sea, then isn't it when static builds up on the rigging of sailing ships when there is going to be a thunderstorm, leading to a strange glow over the rigging. It can be right before lightning strikes the ship!