Plasma core / halo
Surface electric arcs
This 2D simulator renders ball lightning as a turbulent, glowing plasma sphere that drifts and bounces across the scene, flickering with internal noise and spitting small surface electric arcs, the same visual mechanic as the site's 3D ball lightning simulation. Sliders control the ball's size and drift speed and five color presets let you compare how different witnesses have described the glow (blue-white, orange, green, plain white, violet). On top of the visuals, a simple energy-lifetime model tracks stored energy that decays over time — faster for a larger ball — while a lifetime clock counts up since the structure last formed; use Push to nudge it around, or Discharge to trigger a sudden energy release like the abrupt end many real reports describe, after which the ball collapses and a fresh one re-forms with a new random lifetime.