Æther uses electricity to draw patterns in wood, with beautiful results -
did some experiments last night: wood + saline + high voltage supply + variac = fractal burn patterns. tried different kinds of wood with various effects. unfortunately my recollection of which types of wood are displayed are spotty. will update later. stay tuned for photos of my fractal wood burning coat rack.
Posted by: mostly cajun on January 12, 2009 at 1:32 PM
I've seen this stuff in real life, like on the insulating support for high voltage power system equipment.
When stuff gets wet and dirty that shouldn't be wet and dirty, these pretty patterns start forming.
When the pretty pattern from one conductor meets the pretty pattern from the next conductor, a multi-megawatt spark forms and erases ALL the pretty patterns.
Posted by: selfsilent on January 19, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Very nice
I assume that the fractals are the shapes made by the salt in the saline.
The salt gives a path of less resistance causing the power to flow along those paths.
As the electricity heats up the salt I would imagine it breaks down the chain causing the electricity to take another path.
It's a really nice effect, I'm looking forward to the instructable.
Void your warranty, violate a user agreement, fry a circuit, blow a fuse, poke an eye out. Make: The risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things... Welcome to Make: Online!
More contributors: Mark Frauenfelder (Editor-in-Chief, MAKE magazine), Kipp Bradford (Technical Consultant/Writer), Chris Connors (Education), Diana Eng (Guest Author), Peter Horvath (Intern), Brian Jepson (O'Reilly Media), Robert Bruce Thompson (Science Room)
Behind the Scenes at MAKE and CRAFT
In January, many of the remote MAKE/CRAFT team members (myself included) convened at the Maker Media headquarters at O'Reilly Media in Sebastopol, California. Take a look behind the scenes of your favorite DIY publications as Goli Mohammadi gives us...
More...
Sign up for the Make: Newsletter
Our Make: Newsletter covers news from maker Media, has original columns, Shed deals, and more! You can also read the archives of past issues.
RSS
I've seen this stuff in real life, like on the insulating support for high voltage power system equipment.
When stuff gets wet and dirty that shouldn't be wet and dirty, these pretty patterns start forming.
When the pretty pattern from one conductor meets the pretty pattern from the next conductor, a multi-megawatt spark forms and erases ALL the pretty patterns.
MC
High voltage power systems specialist
Reply to this comment
I assume that the fractals are the shapes made by the salt in the saline.
The salt gives a path of less resistance causing the power to flow along those paths.
As the electricity heats up the salt I would imagine it breaks down the chain causing the electricity to take another path.
It's a really nice effect, I'm looking forward to the instructable.
Reply to this comment