The Geek Brewery

Introduction

3am has been labeled the Devil’s Hour. A lot of people claim that they have a lot of unusual experiences especially on this hour of the day. One of the most common 3am phenomena is the Saint Elmo’s Fire, colloquially pronounced in some places as santilmo. Join me in my quest on digging in the 3am Saint Elmo phenomena.

Before I formally start my investigation, I know some of you are not really familiar with the Saint Elmo’s fire so I feel obliged to define it.

Saint Elmo’s fire, as described by my trusted eyewitnesses, is like a floating ball of fire. Yeah, its floating without a trace of its source. They tend to be attracted to humans, like a magnet. That’s why they are freaky, imagine a chasing ball of fire.

Investigation

Some people say that 3am is also the darkest hour of the day. Eager to confirm this, I made my own experiment using a self-modified QSE159 phototransistor. The set-up: I created a circuit of a QSE159 phototransistor with an ADC (analog to digital converter). The ADC output lines were connected to the port pins of an AT89C4051 microcontroller unit by Atmel. The port 3 of the said microcontoller was interfaced with the computer’s COM ports (RS-232) for datalogging. A prototype datalogger was also created using Visual Basic 6.

The circuit I made aims to log the intensity of light using my own unit of measurements. The higher the value, the more light is detected by the phototransistor. I started with the light intensity experiment at 12:00am and ended it at 5:00am.

Light intensity vs time (in hours past midnight) graph

As seen in my data graph, the darkest times covered in the time period was between 3am to 4am. At past 1am, there is a sudden surge of light, which can be accounted by my accidental switching on of the backyard lamp (hehe).

3am as the darkest hour of the day, CONFIRMED!

Connecting Scientific Concepts

So, what’s with this? There are certain elements (the one in the periodic table of elements, not the superstitious ones) in nature that react in the absence of light. These reactions are called photobic reactions. The reaction of sulfur and phosphorus is an example of this kind of reaction. Sulfur and phosphorus are also both found in blood, and they are also the key components in the formation of a Saint Elmo’s fire.

So in crash sites where the blood of the dead bodies is absorbed by the soil, Saint Elmo’s fire phenomenon is more likely to occur. The blood will react at a dark hour (3am is the optimum hour) forming this so-called “mysterious” ball of fire. The ball of fire is actually not fire, it is actually a visible glowing plasma.

Now we have an explanation..

Now that we have an explanation to the 3am Saint Elmo’s fire phenomenon, there’s no reason to be afraid of it. The 3am Saint Elmo’s fire is just a product of the Sulfur-Phosphorus dark reaction.

You may ask me what to do when chased by this Saint Elmo’s fire. The only thing to do is to run in a zigzag path cause studies suggest that Saint Elmo’s Fire has a hard time maneuvering directions.

Have fun and a spooky 3am. ;D

Actual Account

I had the chance to interview my friend Linda (she doesn’t blog, sorry no link for you). Here’s our Tagalog conversation:

Mikko: Saan ka nakakita ng santilmo?
Linda: Ah, ganito kasi iyon. Summer ‘yon, week after ng fiesta. Mga 3:20am ata yun, ginising ako ng kapatid ko kasi naiihi daw siya. Tas yung CR sa loob ng bahay, ginagamit pa ng katulong namin kaya sinamahan ko nalang siya sa labas para umihi. Tas may napansin ako sa likod ng puno ng saging, lumulutang na apoy tas sabi ng lola ko santilmo daw yun.
Mikko: Anong itsura niya?
Linda: Alam mo yung parang tennis ball na lumulutang na umaapoy. Ganun!
Mikko: Ah, ganun ba. Nanghahabol ba talaga ito ng tao?
Linda: At first, nanigas ako nung nakita ko. Siyempre sino bang hindi magugulat kapag nakakita ng ganun. Hindi ako tumakbo agad, dahan-dahan akong gumalaw sa takot. Tas nung tumakbo ako, hinabol ako, parang ipis.
Linda: Sabi rin pala ng lola ko, mga kaluluwa daw yun ng mga taong hindi tanggap ang kanilang pagkamatay. Tambakan rin daw ng mga pinatay nung gera (World War 2) ang likod ng bahay namin.

I’ve translated it to English for international audience. Please bear with my crappy translation:

Mikko: Where did you see the Saint Elmo’s Fire?
Linda: Ah, it went this way. It was summer, week after the fiesta. It was like 3:20am when my sibling woke me up to accompany him to the restroom. That time, our household helper was still using the restroom so I accompanied him to the backyard to urinate. While waiting for my little brother, I noticed a ball of fire behind the banana tree. I asked my grandma the morning after, and she said it was a Saint Elmo’s fire.
Mikko: How does it look?
Linda: Uhm, it’s like a floating tennis ball of fire. Like that!
Mikko: Ah, okay. Does it really chase people?
Linda: At first, I can’t move because of fear. Of course, who would not be shocked to see such thing. I moved away slowly first then when I ran, it chased me, like a cockroach.
Linda: Ah, my grandma also told me that they were the souls of the people who can’t accept the way they died. She also said that the area near our backyard used to be a dumpsite of dead bodies during the war (WW2).

Quote for the day: Little learning is dangerous!

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