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Making "petrified lightning" at home

submitted by mintbbb

9 years 10 months ago

Fusing Sand with Electricity - Fulgurite Forge

YT: Artificial Fulgurite Forge (Arc through sand)

Here I present my Artificial Fulgurite Forge, or: Fusing Sand with Electricity.

When lightning strikes sand, a hollow column of glass is left behind! These columns are called "fulgurites" (from Latin "Fulgor", meaning Thunder and also known as Petrified Lightning), and I will be making artificial fulgurites using a resonant MOT high voltage power supply. The supply consists of a single MOT (Microwave Oven Transformer) and two resonant HV capacitors. When short circuited, this supply can make high voltage plasma arcs 60cm long. When the arc is pulled through sand, the silica fuses to form a kind of glass. The molten glass is conductive, allowing the arc to be sustained. In this video I tested two types of silicous minerals: silicous soil and beach sand. The silicous soil is quite low purity, only about 90% Silicon dioxide. The rest consists of organic matter, charcoal, other minerals (notably Potassium carbonate, pumice and limestone), volcanic ash and sulfur (this kind of soil is evident of volcanic activity). Because of the organic matter and sulfur content, the soil is slightly flammable and drawing arcs gives off a terrible odour of sulfur dioxide. The longest fulgurites this material could yield was about 4cm. The beach sand, on the other hand, is completely unflammable, and very high purity (Over 99.9% SiO₂) with trace amounts of lime from shells. The fulgurite quality is substantially increased, with some fulgurites exceeding 16cm long. The fulgurites are also a much more appealing colour and texture.