Using this model, ball lightning, eddy currents and sunspots are basically the same, providing a much-needed unification of concepts. For example, luminous metal vapor spheres might be explained as specimens of ball lightning composed of metal vapor plasma rather than air plasma, because metal is more easily ionized than air. And, an electron might be represented in a classical model as a miniature globe of ball lightning.
This model explains the formation and demise, size, energy, life span, density, and other properties of ball lightning. Values of the properties that were derived agree with those observed in natural phenomena. The next theoretical step would be to calculate a detailed model of ball lightning, similar to a stellar structure. By creating a ball in the laboratory, one might determine if a ball could be sustained or raised to a higher temperature by feeding energy into it, for example by RF or particle beams. The ball could be held between two opposite magnetic poles, while gas jets or trimming fields are used to prevent it from touching the poles. Since natural ball lightning appears to be reasonably stable, a synthetic version might serve as a method of plasma confinement for purposes of nuclear fusion.