St. Elmo’s Fire
This mesmerizing spectacle of nature has been considered both a good omen and a harbinger of danger. The underlying physics help explain why.
Published in
6 min readApr 23, 2024
“It was a beautiful sight, that electric fire playing around the mastheads and yardarms, and illuminating the whole ship with its pale light. It was like a fairy scene, and we all stood gazing at it in…