Observational data of ball lightning often contradict each other, so it was sometimes proposed to build a theory of ball lightning based on only a small number of statistically reliable observations. Work on this principle did not bring results. The correct approach to creating the theory of ball lightning should be the desire to explain all of its properties, even those that are rare. In the database of ball lightning observations, the most valuable are the cases when it left traces available for quantitative analysis, or was filmed by video cameras. Ball lightning is a material body consisting of a shell and a multi-element core. Cases of water heating made it possible to determine energy density of ball lightning, which turned out to be higher than 1010 J/m3. A study of results of ball lightning explosion, as well as its effect on snow, made it possible to assume that it is capable of generating radiation with a wavelength of about 10 cm, the power of which can be greater than 120 kW. Ball lightning has an electric charge of 10−3 - 10−1 C. The presence of an electric charge explains the complex nature of its movement in atmosphere. Ball lightning is formed under the action of magnetic field pulse and ultraviolet radiation of linear lightning channel. A model of ball lightning in the form of a core of charged “dynamic capacitors” and a shell of polarized water molecules is considered. It is shown that this shell is capable of withstanding the force of Coulomb repulsion of the core charges and the pressure caused by the movement of charge carriers. The glow of ball lightning core occurs due to orbital motion of electrons at a speed close to light speed. The intensity of the glow is determined by the degree of uniformity of electrons arrangement along the orbit.
