SCIENCE LAB SCORCH : PURPLE HAZE [ 2 ]

St. Elmo's Fire occurs when a strong electric field concentrates around a sharp point, ionizing the surrounding air molecules and creating plasma with a blue or violet glow.

Scientists have long wondered if the tips of the trees might become a focal point for the eerie emanations. 

To find out, Mr. McFarland's team took a branch from a spruce tree and exposed it to strong electric fields in their lab. Sure enough, it glowed.

While the glow could be photographed in the lab in a pitch-black room, seeing all in the wild was trickier.

They chased storms using a car equipped with a telescope, electric field detector, a Faraday cage and an ultraviolet camera.

Although they couldn't see much during the storms, when the footage was analyzed in the lab they found out how common St. Elmo's Fire was.

'' Every single tree that we looked at under a thunderstorm had very similar amounts or frequencies of this corona glow,'' Mr. McFarland said. 

The team didn't just see one leaf or needle tip glow ; they saw hundreds.

The World Students Society thanks Annie Roth.