Making "Captured Lightning" (Million-volt Sculptures) [Lichtenberg figures]

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Making "Captured Lightning" (Million-volt Sculptures)

Bert Hickman

Our sculptures combine high-energy physics with art. You can learn more about the history and physics of Lichtenberg figures and get one of your very own at the following links:
http://www.capturedlightning.com/fram...
http://www.capturedlightning.com/fram...

This video shows how we create "Captured Lightning" sculptures. It was assembled from video clips that were taken over several years. Our team of experienced "Spark Whisperers" uses a 5 million electron volt (MeV) particle accelerator to inject hundreds of trillions of electrons deep inside pieces of clear acrylic. The electrons come to rest about 1/4" to 1/2" below the irradiated surface, forming a cloud-like layer of negative charge, called a space charge. Since PMMA is an excellent electrical insulator, an intensely-charged layer becomes temporarily trapped inside the specimen, similar to the way charge is temporarily stored within clouds inside a thunderstorm before a lightning strike. The internal potential of the space charge region can exceed 2.5 million volts!

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From Wikipedia :

Lichtenberg figure

Lichtenberg figures (German Lichtenberg-Figuren), or "Lichtenberg dust figures", are branching electric discharges that sometimes appear on the surface or in the interior of insulating materials. Lichtenberg figures are often associated with the progressive deterioration of high voltage components and equipment. The study of planar Lichtenberg figures along insulating surfaces and 3D electrical trees within insulating materials often provides engineers with valuable insights for improving the long-term reliability of high voltage equipment. Lichtenberg figures are now known to occur on or within solids, liquids, and gases during electrical breakdown.

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Lichtenberg figures are named after the German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who originally discovered and studied them. When they were first discovered, it was thought that their characteristic shapes might help to reveal the nature of positive and negative electric "fluids". In 1777, Lichtenberg built a large electrophorus to generate high voltage static electricity through induction. After discharging a high voltage point to the surface of an insulator, he recorded the resulting radial patterns by sprinkling various powdered materials onto the surface. By then pressing blank sheets of paper onto these patterns, Lichtenberg was able to transfer and record these images, thereby discovering the basic principle of modern xerography.[1]

This discovery was also the forerunner of the modern day science of plasma physics. Although Lichtenberg only studied two-dimensional (2D) figures, modern high voltage researchers study 2D and 3D figures (electrical trees) on, and within, insulating materials.

Lichtenberg figures are examples of natural phenomena which exhibit fractal properties.

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[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. Also

When people get struck by lightning the Lichtenberg patterns sometimes are visible on their skin,however it fades over time. If I ever got struck by lightning I would want to take pictures of my skin and have it tattooed on me.