Making 12 Inch, 2.1 Million Volt "Captured Lightning" Sculptures!

[aForkandaSpoon]

The video paused right on a spark for me, that was awesome.

[zergui1954]

Espetacular!

Compartilharei em meu blog, para que mais pessoas conheçam o processo de fabricação de algo que deverá se tornar moda de decoração, fruto da combinação da alta tecnologia e da arte.

Parabéns!

[Thespartan117992]

I'd love to work there

[paintballgundown8]

how much do these cost? Looks like you could pump them out all day as long as you had enough plastic blocks

[BertHickman]

@paintballgundown8 You can check the referenced web site (in the description for the video) for pricing details. You can continue to make specimens as long as you are wiling to pay for the "beam time".

[salemcripple]

looks like it could be a rather dangerous profession.

[BertHickman]

@bigamito

Google is your friend...

[joesakik88]

@BertHickman I want to ask you, after lots of reasearch (I just heard about Lichtenberg figures)

does the material required to do this kind of art (I consider like so... consider it the way you want to) is expensive?

Is it possible to do this kind of stuff with less than 100$?

or it take several costly stuff that most of human dont get their hands on and I'd rather seek and buy some for the same 100$?

that would be very nice of you to answer

and btw, great site, great vid!

[BertHickman]

@joesakik88

The material that we use to make our Captured Lightning sculptures is mostly cast polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA , also known as acrylic, Lucite, or Plexiglas) that is cut and polished beforehand. The most expensive (but essential) part is renting "beam time" on a multi-million volt electron beam accelerator, which can run $500 - $2000 per hour, with a one hour minimum. Unfortunately, $100 doesn't go very far when making Lichtenberg figures.

[joesakik88]

@BertHickman oh.... hmmm >.< I see... thats why... well thanks for the info!

I checked out ur site in detail and found out what is recquired to do this (although this video is pretty clear on how to do it) when I wrote this I didnt fully understand what Lichtenberg was... but now I do

and after some thinking I found out that getting a 2.2 megavolt lightning with 3000 amperes is near impossible for me... so I'll stick to buying some of yours :)

[joesakik88]

@BertHickman also I was thinking while sleeping, would it be possible to make a flexible acrilic sheet with lichtenberg? or it wouldn't work for some reason...

and also another question that I just tough about... after doing the lichtenberg, does the acrilic weaken? (the question I tough about is, could I make a table top out of this, with the correct dimension?)

[BertHickman]

@joesakik88

Because of the physics involved, the acrylic must be at least 3/8" thick. A sheet of material of this thickness is fairly rigid. For something the size of a table top, you'd need to use 2" thick material or would need to use multiple pieces of thinner material. Since the material becomes internally fractured, it is weakened somewhat, but we have not actually measured the degree of weakening.

[joesakik88]

@BertHickman alright, thanks a lot!

you are awsome

[bigamito]

Where can i buy an 12" Lichtenberg Figures???

[denelson83]

Wow! That energy was released at the rate of over 3 gigawatts!

[eucriatura]

Awesome!

[james1471]

shocking camerawork

[metcalfe1]

Amazing! But terrible camera work

[keransom]

your accents sound cannadian

[antmansbigxmas]

@keransom you sure it's not ammmerican?

[Pianoman8]

Looks like a biological / electrical field.

[TBRambo]

cool

[TequilaSnakke]

Someone call the guys of UltraSlo to tape this sucker, I'd love to see this in ultra slow motion

[BertHickman]

Unfortunately, even a camera that can operate at 100,000 frames per second (10 microseconds/frame) would be much too slow. This is because the discharge pattern in these 12" specimens is completely formed within about 300 nanoseconds. In order to see the discharges forming, you would need to have a camera that could hit perhaps 6 million frames/second.

[RnBramwell]

Yes, the technique is fascinating, & produces some really 'pretty' patterns... but so do Spirographs!

So what is special here!? *Show* how it works, Show how variations occur (such as holes in the patterns). Allow the viewer to develop his understanding of the technology in a logical progression.

Cut the juvenile, 50yr old hippie expressions, suchs "fan-freakin-tastic".

Givne what could have been done in this video, it is a 2 out of 10. A huge disappointment.

[mootbooxle]

Why are you such a hater?

Geez, you "lightning in a bottle" and it's just not good enough for some people I guess.

[RnBramwell]

Excuse Me? How does that make me a hater??? I just want to understand. I think it is terrific/fascinating. Don't you? Are you so medieval that you care nothing of the how, only of the impression. It is YOUR approach that is the "hater", because you care not to mesh reason with reality. Instead, you discard reason in favor blind faith, which accepts reality as readily as myth!

[mootbooxle]

Oh, you're one of "those".

[RnBramwell]

I'll take that a a compliment. Keep in mind that you made the effort to use computer technology (also lightning in a bottle) and software that others developed. You also made the effort to learn how to use a drum set, and put up videos to show others how to work from basic rhythms ! You are doing, for your special interest, what these guys could be doing rather than say "Wow".

[Hypermobilemind]

Amazing!