Apple Disk ][ X-Ray

[David Griffith]

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007, Grant Stockly wrote:

> This causes a stress crack in the Plexiglas, which encourages some of the
> electrons to exit. This tears a track in the Plexiglas, which permits more
> of the electrons to come out. The electrons coming out tear/rip a path in
> the Plexiglas just as lightning tears a path in the air leaving behind a
> witness path, such as you see in the pictures. And like lightning the
> process is accompanied by a loud bang and a flash. The Plexiglas continues
> to 'sparkle' with bright blue 'sprits' running along the small branches for
> several minutes.  It is truly a beautiful appearance.....at least in MY
> opinion!
>
> This plus the final pattern (which is obviously different every time) is
> great at entertaining the multitude.

Here's something along those lines that yields a permanent piece of art:
(main page www.teslamania.com)
http://205.243.100.155/frames/interesting.html.

Basic process:
Irradiate a block of plexiglass with an electron beam from a particle
accelerator to build up a high static charge.  Then carefully touch the
block with a grounded metal spike to cause a discharge, leaving feathery
branches of "frozen lightning" behind.


-- 
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

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