Captured Lightning: 2.2 million volt Lichtenberg Figure Sculpture

[nekrox1]

Ok but why ? What is it do , i mean what is the purpose of all this , can someone expalin that to me because i don`t think i can put that on my fish tank ... Don`t get me wrong i like that , it was cool , but can that be useful ? Thanks anyway and sorry if i offended anyone...

[dodsonsth]

Its amazing, how lightening looks like viens. As if, ... circulatory systems were zapped into existence. "Hmmmmm" lol

[marespand]

beautiful idea

[gunlamon55]

art !

[SWFC1100]

no im not due compensation

[DAKODA65]

all i see is a tree, i accidentally came across this what is it?

[BertHickman]

@DAKODA65 Read the video description and check out the links provided there. Basically, the "tree" is a fossil of a lightning-like discharge that was created deep inside a piece of clear plastic.

[luffliffloaf]

I don't know about that lightning, but I'll tell you what, this video's music is amazing.

[Fawad70]

Amazing idea ,,,

[UrbanskaterzTeam]

looks like my family tree

[XxQuincyBoyxX]

such a nice sculpture made out of 2.2 million volts!!!

[Cwpratt09]

This will make a good dust colector

[blahdob]

Wow you have found out the meaning of life

[ollieoniel]

could you use higher power versions as energy storage?

[BertHickman]

@ollieoniel

Possibly. However, the energy storage capability is lost once the block is discharged and the Lichtenberg figure forms, so its only good for one "shot". It does store millions of volts in a relatively small volume.

[ollieoniel]

@BertHickman What if you used oil?

also what if you used some sort of transistor to

make the discharge slower?

Then could it be used as an energy storage medium?

[BertHickman]

@ollieoniel

Unfortunately, the energy comes from charge trapped INSIDE the Plexiglas, so oil will not help reduce or slow down the internal damage when the charge is released. Once the charge release process begins it's like an avalanche - there's no stopping it, and it all rushes out in less a few hundred billionths of a second. And I don't know where to buy 2.2 million volt transistors... :^)

[ollieoniel]

@BertHickman no i ment store the charge in oil

[BertHickman]

@ollieoniel

The process doesn't work well with liquid dielectrics. Injected charges tend to spread out  and leak away within a fluid, since fluid molecules are quite mobile compared to those in a solid dielectric like Plexiglas. I know of no liquid that has the high insulation resistance and high dielectric strength of Plexiglas. It MIGHT work if the rate of injection (higher e-beam current) was faster than the fluid charge diffusion and leakage rates. A very interesting question though.. :^)

[ollieoniel]

@BertHickman thanks maybe if the fluid was in plexi glass

and i came across high voltage transistors (I think they are a bunch

of transistors that are in series) that are used to turn electrostatic

generators charge into ac voltage so it can run through a step down

transformer.

[Doom2pro]

@BertHickman IGBT's don't even come close lol

[stonerscolony]

bought myself one from ebay today he has a ebay shop named the same as his youtube account "BertHickman" for anyone else looking as I was.

[ProToolPat]

when you look at the paths, like some say it resembles some plant growth. I also see a similarity to this electron flowing pattern and water flowing, its looks like streams hitting rivers then all emptying in one delta like point??? anybody else see what I mean?

[BertHickman]

@ProToolPat

That's a good observation! Water flow in a river system is analogous to the flow of electrical charges from smaller regions in a Lichtenberg Figure into larger paths, and ultimately exiting as a single, big "river" of charge. Nature uses similar sets of rules ( "fractal behavior") to create a variety of similar-appearing branching structures. These include animal circulatory systems, air passages in lungs, branching within plants and trees, and our Captured Lightning sculptures.

[deaftodd]

@BertHickman i think its the most efficient way of dispersing the energy most evenly all over when it comes to nature.

[Asdayasman]

Fibonacci gogogogo.

[Robinla7]

@ProToolPat I see what you mean.

[bLackmarketRadio]

@ProToolPat the phenomenon is called fractals. google it. it will blow your mind.

[pedrogregorio]

@ProToolPat yes omg! isnt it weird how they all share that characteristic? from rivers, plants, lightnings, veins! I can ALMOST sympathize with those who believe in intelligent design... but i don't think its conclusive... WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? :)

[astronautis1674]

@ProToolPat we can see what you mean, but not why you're saying it....

[otowi3333]

They DO sell them!

[killpop11]

you can sell this as a decoration for some money

[frotz661]

@killpop11

They've been selling these things for quite some time.

[PowerWordKill]

That's a great idea. Lichtenberg discharges seem to make surprisingly good ornaments.

[douro20]

What is the music?

[SINEKT]

What is the music, too ? :P

[marcelkade]

I think it's from Pinnacle Studio. (Video editing software)

[BertHickman]

It was indeed from Pinnacle Video Editing SW, but I don't remember the name of the song...

[Killyourselfsrsly]

Worst CGI effects ever, I've seen better in Star Wars

[Individualism101]

You're an idiot.

[SuperPe6o]

WOW

[Gooddeed25]

I am a college student working on a BFA and am interested in fractals and the Captured Lightning process. I have been to the website, very cool.

Q:----How much is "beam time" and how qualified do you need to be in order to use it? I would like to get my school involved in something so interesting.

[BertHickman]

Beam time on a commercial accelerator is typically $500 - $1500/hour depending on beam energy. If you are affiliated with an educational institution and are conducting research, you may be able to obtain beam time on a a research accelerator for less.

[djbass101]

you should set up a side business selling those.. each unique... unless there is someone already selling them in which case... please forward their details to me. :D

[BertHickman]

See the notes/description section just to the right of the video clip on this page for more information and a URL for our Captured Lightning web site. Our web site has lots more information and pictures, and you can also purchase a Lightning sculpture there if you wish.

[tonbonthemon]

i'd buy one

[pacovideos]

please explain me ..

Why the lines DO NOT cross each other

sorry for my poor english

[BertHickman]

The tips of the advancing discharges are positively charged versus the negatively charged Plexiglas in front of them. Because the tips have similar charge polarity, they tend to repel each other and will never cross.

[bigjaw1]

I would love one of those as a window 'etching' on a computer case

[BertHickman]

Although HV discharges can create 2D "dust figures" on the surface of acrylic, a true electron particle accelerator is necessary to make our Lichtenberg Figures. Electrons must be accelerated inside a long vacuum chamber so that they enough speed (almost the speed of light). . In air, they constantly collide with air molecules before they can be accelerated to multiple MeV energies. Google "Lichtenberg Figures" or see the Lichtenberg Figures pages on our Teslamania site to get more information.

[AuKNiFe]

what kind of accelerator do you use?

[BertHickman]

We use a high power DC electron beam accelerator. Called a Dynamitron, it's capable of creating a beam of electrons with an energy of up to 5 million electron volts (MeV) and 150 kW.

[AuKNiFe]

did you construct the Dynamitron circuit on your own? and where did you find a plan of it?

[BertHickman]

Unfortunately, this 5 MeV accelerator is much too large and expensive for hobbyists to build. It stands about four stories high and requires 6 foot concrete walls to shield us from the lethal X-rays it produces. We purchase "beam time" (by the hour) on the Dynamitron, and other, electron beam accelerators. The Dynamitron generates a continuous beam of particles. Some members of our team have also used higher beam energies from pulsed accelerators. Beam time had to be purchased on these as well.

[AuKNiFe]

thanks for you kind replies!

i wonder if any hobbyist tries to use their high voltage devices such as tesla coils to produce the Lichtenberg Figure, since some of the coils reach million volts

[ICreateStuff]

thats cool

[Kukitipakio]

That pattern looks like the roots from a plant

[guguigugu]

it's a type of a fractal pattern. just like the roots and branches, it is formed by the same principle. there are many fractals throughout nature.

[Mwahohoho]

Like veins in the brain!

[laputahayom]

way cool

[hayseed1957]

Hi Bert,

Glad to see your still kicking. I sure enjoy making trees at every oppurtunity I get, wich is not to often. Have you ever been "bit" by one?. Just curious, I have on a couple of occasions.

Regards,

Hayseed.

[BertHickman]

Hi!

Yeah, we get "bit" all the time by secondary discharges while handling them. As you know, they continue to spark for some time after the main bolt. I've been bitten by some larger specimens as well.

Before going to fiberglass insulated hammers, we'd often get zapped through the hickory handle. The discharge is so quick, it feels different than a regular shock. It's sort of like a static electricity shock, but ON STEROIDS. We're careful not to get it through the chest cavity.

Best,

Bert

[BertHickman]

On our latest (11/7/09) production run, one of our team members got quite a nasty shock from a very large (24" x 24" x 1") experimental specimen. The main discharge spark jumped about 8" to his finger and exited to the work table through his belt buckle. The last two joints of his finger turned a pale white color and he lost all feeling in these joints as well. After about 15-20 minutes of massaging, color and feeling slowly returned. We can chuckle now, but it was very scary at the time.

Bert

[BeetleMama]

Oh that is so cool. I called my six year old to watch it, he thinks it's very cool too, he said "wow, that man trapped lightning inside some glass."

[VriakII]

I wonder if there are mathematical ratios similar to those in plants. Interesting how similar they appear to sea fans and kelp plants suspended in water.

[BertHickman]

Good observation - there are indeed similarities. Nature often uses similar rules for otherwise diverse phenomena. The branching, repetitive pattern is a type of fractal. Similar branching fractal patterns are seen in circulatory systems of animals and man, air passages within lung tissue, river drainage systems, some types of coral, and the root systems of many land plants.

[CompletePhail]

lighting bolt contains millions of volts apperently

[Blaze1024]

These are really cool but I would think making these by hand is probably not the smartest thing in the world to be doing. I would rather use a solenoid to strike the object with the grounded discharge point then doing it by hand.

I'm sure Making one or two is probably no concern but I'm sure that making more then a few 100 of them of them by hand might expose the person closet to it to a bit more ionizing radiation " X-Rays" then you would really want.

[BertHickman]

Charging up specimens generates hard 5 MeV X-rays. But this is done behind a six foot thick concrete wall, so we're in no danger.

We wear radiation dosimeters, and we have also placed very senditive X-ray film right next to large figures as they were being discharged. No evidence of any X-rays were observed or measured. The interior of the Plexiglas and surrounding air are too dense to permit X-rays from occurring.

But this might be different if we discharged them in a vacuum...

Bert

[bananapiesed]

MUSIC!

[LordTeaOfBiscuits]

these are sold as art...in fact that exact one in the video was sold on ebay.

lol you could make these at home.....if you have a linear particle accelerator :P

i got one of those figures at home too....oh and theres this one guy who got struck by lightning who has one on his back as a result of being struck.

fantastic things!

[jefforysanders]

putting those on people would put tattooing out of business

[btbking]

I want one

[eliassos]

lol it looks a bit edited the first time

[laurdy]

you could probarbly sell those as art

[BertHickman]

Great idea - we agree... :^)

A pointer to our web site is in the notes/description section of this page (to the right of the video clip).

[yz250ftony]

fractals!!!

one of my friends has one of these. amazing how intricate the little lines are.

[GuitarMcLicks]

How smash it and see what happens!

[Pyrotrons]

Wow, these things are INCREDIBLY cool. I have one, and it's like nothing else that I own. I keep it in the dining room, lit up with a few blue LED's from below. It's an amazing combination of high energy physics and philosophy... make sure to check out this guy's website!

[Turok4458]

That slow-mo part looked like an animated explosion!

[gdmcgill]

sort of like a BFG 9000 lol

[novachild]

nice quake reference.

[gdmcgill]

Doom*

[kmarinas86]

What's the name of the song?

[FriedGames]

You could make some good money doing this if you know what your doing. Some see it as art. Just add some color and it's good. Just my opinion.

[Legatou0]

I agree, I would buy that as a piece of art.

[DonteDragon]

Simply Amazing ! Awesome !

[Amamkoncahuanquichu]

so the branching you see, is that etching or trails left behind? Or ashes maybe?

[BertHickman]

They're actually chains of small fractures that are created by the passage of the electrical discharge. The paths are not on the surface. They are actually deep inside (about halfway through) the acrylic.

[Amamkoncahuanquichu]

how interesting! Thanks for the vid and info.

[sspoke]

yah that goes to show yah all living trees are in some way related to electricity. It does form a tree pattern you beat me to it same as nerves system in a human body.

[KaelClout]

no... this is called fractal picture, everything in nature have the fractal patern

[sspoke]

thats exactly what i ment???? all living/nature whatever you call it is in some way related to eletricity. Try to grow some plaent without a source of eletricity. Even the sun rays are converted into some sort of eletricity runs the world and living things tbh :s

[swirnoff]

that has nothing to do with the fractal pattern. Nature's use of fractal pattern maximaizes surface area and thus efficiency of absorbtion/dispersion in terms of material and energy distribution. In other words its a natural patern of flow. But just because electricity discharges in a fractal pattern it doesnt mean that its the only an primary source for life on this planet. What dictates life on Earth is hormonious balance of many other things working together as well.

[Legatou0]

Dude..sspoke... Is plaent "plant" or "planet"

Plant - You don't need electricity, all you need is a light source(the sun works on hydrogen atomic fusion), nutrition in soil, water, and carbon dioxide to grow a plant.

Planet - No human on earth has successfully grown a planet on any scale, but at our current level of understanding, planets are basically formed by forces of gravity in dust clouds over billions of years.

Also: Life on Earth lived for billions of years without electricity..

[sspoke]

Wow soo close minded do you even have a basic idea of how the brain works.... one word electricity.

Fact: Attaching a magnet on your brain will make you think differently!. This has been proven to make poeple quit smoking. can't argue with this.

Sorry plants use light which is transformed into elerctricity. Okay??????? I think that about wraps it up for now. Come back with something more trivial that I can't answer.

[lin2k4]

Considering everything is held together by electrostatic force, yes

[sspoke]

As I recall from vistiing Harvard University on a one day enlightenment course.

electricity is just a term used to describe the flow of eletrons inside one of joined many atoms. As you know that everything living is made up of 10% of atoms and 90% of energy (spinning soo fast that it looka solid but its really only 10% solid). or was it 1% solid? forgot that bit but yah.. all eletrons flow in what you call this facial pattern due to the bonucing of one and another.. but yah.. thats really it...

[Legatou0]

Actually everything living is made of cells, made of atoms, made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Yes, the nucleus of an atom is around a percent of the area of an atom and electrons and empty space comprise the remaining area.

Electricity is not made of atoms or the flow of electron between joined atoms. Electricity is made of electrically charged subatomic particles. When electricity "moves", it is the flow of these subatomic particles, called current, measured in amperes.

[flyinginacupoftea]

IT LOOKS LIKE A TREE :DDD

[ionics007]

yes dendrigrams.... btw.........

[tonybukakke]

that stuff looks like the nerve endings in our bodies..wow

[tonybukakke]

that shit is crazy! good job though!

[mahmoudabaza]

how did u do that its like somthing hit glass

[daggenoth]

ooo true haha ebay it

[Zcarbon]

why is it green?

[BertHickman]

The plastic becomes discolored ("solarized") when it is irradiated by the 5 MeV electron beam. This also colors the electrical discharge inside the Plexiglas. There is also significant saturation of the camera sensor during the flash. This makes the discharges appear to be much much broader than they really are.

[daggenoth]

wonder what the beam does to a finger :P

[boyangel15]

that was awesome!!!!!!!

[Ravsos]

niesamowite!

[skodas]

put it on ebay

[anotherangle2]

thats so good.

[anticonny]

but why are they SO expensive it is only plexiglas

[BertHickman]

Because we need to rent "beam time" on a huge particle accelerator in order to "charge them up". THAT's what makes them costly to make...

[anticonny]

simly beautyful

[MeClech]

way to teach us HOW. after all, you categorized it as "HOW-TO & DIY"

[BertHickman]

See the description. It points to a web page that provides all of the gory details about how this Lichtenberg Figure was made. We plan to add other videos showing other parts of the process, including specimens being charged using a 5 MeV electron beam (Zap!).

[smartrocker9000]

thats awesome

[mrossem]

Can you buy a piece of that plexiglass?

[BertHickman]

Unfortunately, that particular specimen is not for sale. We do have some 12" x 12" x 1" specimens available on our Teslamania web site.

[Lokeyslave]

That's wild.

[Tee020]

What is the music that you used in this video?

[overand]

Hot. Link to this (indirectly, via some other video site) is on digg.

[jus1haz2]

Thats badass!

[david7992]

i looked at the website, and saw the one were this guy got a piece of glass, a screw in some wood and a hammer? was it a hammer is a special tool?

[BertHickman]

We use a variety of discharging tools, and most of them are simply struck using an ordinary hammer. We've also found out the hard way (ouch!) that wood doesn't always work as a good electrical insulator, so most of our newer tools are now made from various insulating plastics.

[deskman903]

cool

[stop4stuff]

Awesome Bert.

I still marvel at the lichtenberg figes you sent me.

[BertHickman]

Thanks for the kind words! We hope to add some more videos soon from our 2006 production run. Maybe also a clip showing the "Quarter Shrinker" in action... :^)

[WindsorFox]

That's what I want to see, coin shrinkage in action! LOL

[tesla242]

Xcellent!