Causes and beliefs[edit]
One explanation proposed is that the fireball is a result of flammable phosphine gas generated by the marshy environment.[5] However, skeptic Brian Dunning writes that whatever is sailing through the air has mass, and "must have been physically propelled". It would be impossible for anyone across the half-mile river to hear a gunshot because it would take 2.5 seconds for the sound to travel to the spectators, and by then the crowd watching has already noticed the light, drowning out the sound when it would reach them. There is no science that can explain "the Naga Fireballs to be naturally produced burning gas bubbles."[6]
A similar explanation involves a similar phenomenon in plasma physics is a free-floating plasma orb,[7] which is created when surface electricity (e.g. from a capacitor) is discharged into a solution. However, most plasma ball experiments are conducted using high voltage capacitors, microwave oscillators, or microwave ovens, rather than in natural conditions.See Ball lightning (this version)