Burning Lichtenberg Figures

I understand exactly why you are anonymous here. Within your cryptic defiance for codified safety protocols, lies exactly why these protocols exist.

Generating Lichtenberg figures often requires applying lethal electric power to an object with most safety barriers removed or never designed in the first place. "Skill of the craft" or "administrative control" has long shown that people can use this technology without people getting injured. You fail to acknowledge is that people without these skills, proper administrative control, or who just made a simple mistake have been severely injured from this technology.

This is why you hide from even posting your CR4 pseudonym.

I've discovered, the hard way, that getting hit with a short pulse of high peak current is fortunately much different than what might be expected from Dalziel's tables.

We make Lichtenberg figures ("Captured Lightning" sculptures) inside pieces of clear acrylic by injecting trillions of electrons into them via a 5 MeV electron accelerator. We then use a well-insulated pointed metal tool to make a small divot on the acrylic surface. This creates a small defect which allows the trapped charge to abruptly escape in a bright flash of miniature lightning. The high-current discharge creates a permanent Lichtenberg figure made up of hollow channels and fractures.

Later measurements and calculations showed that these discharges are all over in 75 - 500 nsec depending on the area of the specimen and the initial potential of the internal charge layer can exceed 2.5 million volts. Since the discharge always jumped harmlessly from the tool tip to the grounded metal cart (usually only 1/2 - 2 inches or so), we didn't always bother grounding the tool. However in larger specimens the peak current and stored energy can be kiloamps and kilojoules, and the internal damage created by the high-energy discharges is incredible. You can see the brilliance of the discharge in the following frame grab of a large specimen:

Anyway, when we first started making larger sculptures, I made a careless last-second decision to discharge one large specimen from the center of the sheet instead of an edge. But, instead of jumping harmlessly to the cart, the discharge instead flashed over to my hand, exiting from my abdomen and belt buckle to the grounded cart. BAM! It didn't feel like a shock, and at first I didn't recognize it as being an electrical shock. It felt more like being physically punched by "something" simultaneously in my shoulder and chest. but it was apparently too brief for my muscles to respond. Subsequent charge calculations and pulse current measurements determined that the jolt had an initial potential of >2 MV and a peak discharge current >2 kA. However, the duration of the discharge was less than 500 nsec, fortunately too brief to register as a painful shock or to do any physical damage. It was also mis-timed (again VERY fortunately) so that it didn't disrupt my heart's rhythm. The estimated electrostatic energy stored in the acrylic was >3 kilojoules.

Needless to say, we now ground the discharge tools when working with larger specimens. Following is what the above specimen looked like afterwards (illuminated with LED's). Actual size is 15" x 20" x 2". I think they're prettier than burned wood...