Static Electricity

Krail 23 Sep 2011 2:42 PM
What I wanna know is how you get a 3D one in a block like the header image.
It's like a lightning feather...
promoted by sarcasticfringe
sarcasticfringe @Krail
They're using a tesla coil or van de graff generator wired into a hammer. An insulated worker holds the hammer, the head of which has been filed down to a point and then soldered to a wire leading to the generator. There's a block of lucite or polycarbonate sitting on a grounded plate nearby. After building up a charge for a moment or two, the worker taps the hammer point to an edge of the plastic block and in an instant the massive build-up discharges into the block leaving a 3D lichtenberg where it vaporized the material.

The finished product is awesome. I'm sure different types of plastic lend themselves to different levels of detail (or not at all) so there's room for experimentation, but I'd be sure to wear some safety goggles or a face mask, as a shard of hard plastic flying at your head is probably a little risky.
Andy @sarcasticfringe
Also: high voltage. You should probably be careful with that too.
sarcasticfringe @Krail
See:
[link.brightcove.com]

(though the company listed in the article link uses a linear accelerator to create the electrical charge - so less of a DIY weekend project)
Edited by sarcasticfringe at 09/23/11 8:34 PM
CornellBoxx @Krail
The kind of zap necessary to produce the image in the block should be possible with a capacitor bank... and also be capable of killing the unwary dead as a mackerel.
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Terry D. Johnson 23 Sep 2011 2:16 PM
I used to work with an electron beam (to crosslink polymers) - the fellow running the facility had oodles of these in large blocks of what I think was acrylic. Very attractive.