Home Made Fulgurites!

Here's a great way to spend a stormy afternoon, with a spool of thin wire a bucket of sand, and a good D model engine rocket. It's also a great way to get struck by lightning so don't try this at home...
Next time you get a good thunder head roll in, fill the bucket with sand and attach your wire to the rocket with a small bracket and attach the spool to the bucket with the other end of wire stuck in the sand. Fire the rocket straight at the belly of the thunder cloud and run like Jesse Owens



If your lucky, you will live through the experince and after the thunder breaks your windows and scares your neighbors, you will end up with a home made Fulgurite.



The lightning doesn't always follow the wire exactly, and it doesn't always strike the wire at all, but to my understanding it has a pretty high sucess rate though it is extraordinarily dangerous.

The reason I bring this up on a conspiracy forum is one Mr. Ben Franklin was involved in similar experiments long before Tesla Proposed the idea of the earth and the atmosphere being basicly two charged plates of a Wimshurst like effect. Is it possible they were aware of this in the 1700's? What do you reckon old Ben was really up to?

OK, I gotta know, did you make the fulgurite shown?

If so, how fast did you do the 100 yard dash?

Originally posted by twitchy
don't try this at home

Might I repeat that?

DON'T TRY THIS

I was just wondering, if he tried it.

No, I went so far as to obtain the rocket engine and wire, but my wife discovered my plot and uh, well that was the end of that. Trsut me though, it works. Of more interest to me is Benjamin Franklin, perhaps he was on to more than just some crazy kite experiment.

Interesting, most wives would be willing to cash in on the insurance.

kinda neat, although I think it may be pretty hard to get the spool to un wind correctlly. ive used many model rockets in my time. perhaps if one used a remote launcher (like most do) it COULD be safe. that is, the launcher is located out of state.

hmm sounds intriqueing

mabe when i get some cash again. would need some realy long wire though. figure launch from 100' away, then run like hell.

Must not try this at home.... So hard to resist.

I swear I see don't try this at home and it just makes me want to do it more. I should prolly quit smoking first though so I can run like a Mo Fo

what happens when the rocket hits the storm?

Originally posted by masterofpuppets
what happens when the rocket hits the storm?

Basicly the ground and the upper level of the atmosphere act as two oppositely charged plates, similar to a Wimshurst. Thunder storms often conduct lightning because they reduce the 'spark gap' so to speak. When you fire a rocket with the wire attached to the thunderhead, if there is sufficient charge built up in the cloud, and if god and luck favor you, lightning will travel down the conductive wire and strike the sand in the bucket creating a fulgurite. It's roughly the same thing as holding a screwdriver to a spark plug while the engine is running. However if you have ever seen large electrical discharges before, they are entirely unpredictable and may travel only partially down the wire then branch off and fry something else.

I'd really have to advise against anyone doing something as dangerous as this. Anyone doing so is expressly taking their life into their own hands. Lightning strikes are, obviously, exceedingly dangerous. I recall a troop of scouts near my town who were simply hiking on a hill, hit by lightening, and horribly killed and disfigured, buttons melting into their flesh, body charring, permanent and extreme damage.

Not a good idea. Anyone foolish enough to try something like this would be doing so without the consent of ATS, everyone in ATS is insistent, reasonbly so, that no one try anything so foolhardy. Indeed, anyone doing this would be doing so againts the express concerns of all of us. We can all see what the bolt does to inert sand, just imagine what it will do to your organs.

What he said.

...and make sure the camera is set up before you try.

if god and luck favor you, lightning will travel down the conductive wire and strike

First time I've ever seen 'god and luck favor you' and 'lightning strike' in the same sentence. (well, except maybe for Back to the Future movies)

Seriously though, I hope that no one actually tries this experiment. As cool as homemade fulgurite might be, it is NOT worth risking your life for. If you absolutely MUST have fulgurite in your home, I did a quick google search and you can buy them easily enough for just a few dollars.

You may also drive metal stakes into the tops of local hills, (during nice weather). And check on them periodically, throughout the storm season.

much less drama..

Some more interesting Ben Franklin 'experiments' perhaps?
web.archive.org...

Mary Shelly was born in 1797, I wonder if she got her idea for FRANKenstien from Benjamin FRANKlin? Lightning, dead bodies...

Edit:
This is the reason I brought up Frankenstein...

www.kimwoodbridge.com...
Mary became an invalid at the age of forty-eight. She died in 1851 of a brain tumor with poetic timing. The Great Exhibition, which was a showcase of technological progress, was opened. This was the same scientific technology that she had warned against in her most famous book, Frankenstein.

[edit on 28-5-2005 by twitchy]

Maybe I should change the title of this thread to "Ben Franklin, Mary Shelly, and You..." so no one confuses with some dangerous half cocked idea to make a fulgurite, that would be really coo... er dangerous.
Seriously though the Mary Shelly, Ben Franklin thing is intriguing eh?

Originally posted by Dulcimer
kinda neat, although I think it may be pretty hard to get the spool to un wind correctlly. ive used many model rockets in my time. perhaps if one used a remote launcher (like most do) it COULD be safe. that is, the launcher is located out of state.

They do it at a Labratory in Florida, I forget which University it was, but they have huge rockets and big wires, interestingly enough they observe their lightning strikes from inside an insulated trailer which has no wiring connected to the outside. How boring.

I was wrong... it was Camp Blanding...

www.pbs.org...
Camp Blanding, located midway between Jacksonville and Gainesville, in central Florida

[edit on 28-5-2005 by twitchy]

[edit on 28-5-2005 by twitchy]

I for one think its a great idea. Instead of a bucket, just go down to your local beach. In the summer, there's usually an afternoon thunderstorm several times a week. Just make your ingition wire trail up to your beach house. That way, you can cause the lightning strike from the safety of your living room couch. After the storm, go out and investigate the area surrounding the launch site.


I may just have to try this when I'm down in the Dominican Republic this summer. It'd be hell getting it back home in one piece though.

I am very interested to hear if anyone at ATS has attemted this magnificent experiment yet.

Originally posted by TJ11240
Just make your ingition wire trail up to your beach house. That way, you can cause the lightning strike from the safety of your living room couch.

im not so sure that this would be advisable....after all, wouldn't the current from the lightning strike travel along the ignition wire to the (not so)"saftey of your living room couch"?