Just a few ideas off the top of my imagination: 1: Use a tube that is vertically cut in half that you can clamp shut and seal-up. This way you can strike it electrically, then open it so that you don't have to pour out or vacuum your sand, and simply sift through and pull out gently with minimal digging. Make sure the tube is made of a substance that the sand can not weld itself onto, so that opening it doesn't break it. Be careful not to make it into a pipe bomb, gasses need to escape. 2: The tube length should be no more than 1 meter in length, and the tube width should be no more than 6 inches in diameter. 3: Instead of just regular bland sand, pre-mix within a cement mixer a combination of ingredients that could effect conductivity, color, heat, and structure integrity of the Fulgurite. Blown-Glass Ingredients would be a good start to try with. Rust Dust and Grinder Shavings might make things interesting as well?
I did this with Joe Dwyer very crudely for a show Strangest Weather On Earth. We had 2 days to come up with something completely out of the blue and I had shipped out my only pole pig. So we used a MOT found a local Habitat restore and I mixed crushed mirrored glass with sand to make the conducting path a little easier for such a low working voltage... but it worked and they looked pretty realistic! Also burnt a hole in the lab table at FIT because the heat cracked the porcelian tile we had the mix on. Joe had a table full of real Fulgurites. They all kinda looked like something found in a litter box...
I unintentionally produced a bunch of fulgurites when the electrical service lead to my shop shorted out into the sandy soil it was buried in. At the time when I dug it up I had no idea the whitish coral like structures were called "fulgurites," but now I know.
I would use ceramic art quality dry mix. Clay is really just super fine sand. By having a smaller grain the overall structures could end up being much stronger and fuse more successfully.
Great video guys! If you make them strong enough, maybe you'll make a fundraiser out of those, like the crushed quarters! Oh, and if I may make a suggestion : try slightly wetting the sand with a solution of sodium hydroxide (drain cleaner). That should lower the sand's melting point (that's why glass is almost never pure silica, they always add a lot of alkalis to it) and consequently increase the binding between the partly fused grains of sand, making less brittle fulgurites.
I would mix in small amounts of different metal powders and see if the Fulgerite comes out in a lovely color maybe because they would oxidize and pigment the glass.
got it, modeling a terracotta pot as a simple right cylinder leads to buying extra material. Be sure to use the correct closest geometry like a truncated cone to estimate the volume to be filled (or check the manufacturer's Specifications).
The appearance doesn't change much when cleaned. I tried doing a cross section of a sample fulgurite about 1/2 inch thick with a dremel and a diamond wheel. It didn't work. The next step will be trying a wet saw, but as TGG does not have one (yet) cross sections will have to wait.
We'd love a set of hot gloves, and the tester (they're useless without proper, regular, safety testing). Find someone who wants to donate the gear and we'd be happy to talk with them.
I wanna do this on a smaller scale while blasting the sand at different frequencies to create intricate, geometric patterns. The current is just to hold the shape together after the fact.
Next... you place a single electrode (not charged or connected) into the center of the pot, same size or more cylindrical, wet sand... then use a second electrode charged with the hot stick... the non charged will act as a ground all current flowing into, down and out of the rod into the wet sand... tada, mega fulgurite
There are a lot of members from all over the world, most of them are not local. Even without being a member you can join us on the IRC and watch the video stream live from The Geek Group (check the 'live' section of TheGeekGroup website). Oh and basic membership is free, so you can join us any time :)
Lol…… I am absolutely addicted to these guys now!!!! We have no idea but we are gonna do it anyway Wait, you did the math, right??? Wait, uhm no…. I thought you did the math Noooo, you know I can’t math Ah, ok…. Light it up anyway Paul… let’s see what we get!! You guys are me heroes you crazy fks💕💕💕
I think you could also try a different type of sand, like the one used in swimming pool filters. Also what do you think minimally playing around with the moisture levels would do?
Awesome! After watching you wield the hot-stick, might I suggest mounting a perpendicular handle on it so it is easier to hold? Perhaps add a curved piece so you can rest it over a shoulder or hip, like the steady-cam mount for filming? BTW - if you do decide to make/sell these, try backfilling the fulgurites with epoxy resin to give them support. A small syringe should work if there is a small opening in the fulgurite.
Sweet! Have you tried using a big circular cookie cutter or metal loop for one electrode, and sticking the other electrode in the center? I think that might give you a nice disc of fulgerite.
@@ChaoticGoodChris Ok thank you. Can you tell me when eye protection is a good idea when I pull arcs. Like, is there a power level or current level when the arc gets to bright? And also, when the arcs are not dangerous to the eye, why did you then want to put/ put on the welding mask at 13:59 min? Thank you
I think it's dependent on the type of sand too, something with a high silica content will yield more results, plain dirt doesn't work as well from my experience!
U guys play with strange toys. I wanted 2 c them washed off. If the sand turns in2 melted glass & melds on 2 a terrcata pot, do it on the out side of the pots & sell them. I would b the 1st 2 buy afew.
The results of this remind me of castings from pouring cement or molten aluminum into ant colonies. Prior to removing the loose sand and subsequently damaging the more fragile fulgurites, is there some way to get a 3D image of the glass structure while it's still in the sand? I'm not sure if either option would work with glass and sand, but ground penetrating radar or MRI come to mind. Developing something to get a decent image of the structure would probably turn out to be a complicated project in of itself, but I think it would be quite interesting, especially if it could get the image in real-time (like ground penetrating radar) and capture the formation of the fulgurites.
@@ChaoticGoodChris I’m subscribed and I’ll definitely watch the hv serie, i like this series of videos bc chris explains very well some topics that can be quite difficult. That’s a great channel keep on going 👍
awesome video!! 😊 i have no expertise in this subject, but what if you packed the sand down a good amount? maybe you'd get more sturdy fulgurites? i have no idea, just a thought! i look forward to seeing your next video!! ☮️
I love your videos, I would love to join the geek group but sadly I'm only 15 and I live in the netherlands :(. I especially the electric part of the geek group.
What if you made a line of conductive metal balls across or throughout the sand (in a spiral). I guess you could even connect them together with a non conductive material to let it hold form after you take it out.
maherandcameron I still think this video was too short. They should've tryed parallel as well. And DC, play with frequency, impulses, widths, balance, etc. Got any free time and some cash? Let's make this happen.
“No, I thought you did the math” “I did do the math but I can’t multiply” “Ok, well you did the math, right so let’s see what happens” “You sure we’re gonna need four of those in there” “How ‘bout you drop a second one in there” “ How ‘bout you do the math and we put the electrodes in first and then….” “I did the math” “I dunno, the electrodes …” “No, don’t do that” “You did the math?” “No, I thought you did the math” “Well, we are here now so the math will tell us” “The math says you need four” “But that’s not right according to my math” “Yeah, but you can’t multiply so you’re math is wrong” “Ok, let’s see what happens with your math” “I math’d the container that you didn’t account for” “Yeah, but I followed the recipe” “ that’s ok if you followed the basics but you didn’t account for our actual variables” “It’ll be f i n e, just pour it all in” “We should probably redo the math” “Just dump it all in and turn on the juice and see what we get” “But we should do the math”
That scares me because thats basically artificial LIGHTNING! Except on FIRE! And it also means that lightning can do that because they are just simulating lightning at a much smaller scale!
I don't know, everything I am reading online leans towards them being indistinguishable from 'natural' ones. It seems to matter entirely on the material the electrical current runs through rather than the source of the electricity. Fulgurite also seems to be very cheap and readily available online.
Caleb Sålstrom The size first off, most fulgurites from actual thunderbolts are much much larger, most machines can't generate fulgurite sizes lightning tends to form. They won't be able to discharge electricity with the same amount of amps as a true lightning bolt which also plays an effect on the fulgurites form.
Wow and I mean well I have no words I guess you guys have never seen been around nor worked with high-voltage electricity. I'm an industrial electrician in IBEW 776. Seen a lot of accidents electrocutions you guys apparently Have not. I get paid to work with extremely high voltage transformers, switch gears, bridge cranes, etc. An arc flash on Just a simple 200 amp, 600 volt, meter base service on your house can reach temperatures 4 times hotter than the surface of the sun and reach out 16 to 20 ft. In diameter. In less than a second your skin melts....🤢🤮 not pretty. Please be careful please🙏🙏🙏🙏
@@ChaoticGoodChris yes sir I can and I'm glad you asked. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday @ Bosch, BP Amico, Dupont, Intrefor (aka N.Chas paper mill), Nucor Steel, Alumax, General Dynamics, and Port Authority, (3 different locations Charleston SC). The company I work for and the plants themselves require 2 hr safety meetings where we all discuss and watch safety videos that show people getting hurt or killed doing exactly unsafe practices such as this video, for example. I used this video in the meeting yesterday. "THE ROOM WAS SILENT WITH 82 INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICIANS, SIR." Nothing safe at ALL. Sir you can look it up. What I day are facts not made up no intentions to impress. Hell I go home everyday in 1 piece,
Depends on the service entrance arc flash wise. Could be a problem iffen it was an 800A meter CT cabinet that was 20ft of paralleled 500MCM copper away from a 167kVA padmount transformer. Not so much iffen it was 400ft of 4AWG aluminum triplex to a 10kVA pole pig. Still deadly, but not exactly needing blinky blue light maintenance mode to work on. Also, just about every 2S meter base that doesn't have spaces for fuses or breakers is rated for 600V (cheaper and easier to make them all for 600V than making a separate line of 250V class meter pan guts). Doesn't mean it has 600V running to it. And extra high potential is 230kV and up.
Get that hot stick off your junk! Even if you tested it, it should never touch more than your gloved hands. Safety first, never last! Have a future not a past! My journeyman lineman husband said that.
Just a few ideas off the top of my imagination:
1: Use a tube that is vertically cut in half that you can clamp shut and seal-up. This way you can strike it electrically, then open it so that you don't have to pour out or vacuum your sand, and simply sift through and pull out gently with minimal digging. Make sure the tube is made of a substance that the sand can not weld itself onto, so that opening it doesn't break it. Be careful not to make it into a pipe bomb, gasses need to escape.
2: The tube length should be no more than 1 meter in length, and the tube width should be no more than 6 inches in diameter.
3: Instead of just regular bland sand, pre-mix within a cement mixer a combination of ingredients that could effect conductivity, color, heat, and structure integrity of the Fulgurite. Blown-Glass Ingredients would be a good start to try with. Rust Dust and Grinder Shavings might make things interesting as well?
I did this with Joe Dwyer very crudely for a show Strangest Weather On Earth. We had 2 days to come up with something completely out of the blue and I had shipped out my only pole pig. So we used a MOT found a local Habitat restore and I mixed crushed mirrored glass with sand to make the conducting path a little easier for such a low working voltage... but it worked and they looked pretty realistic! Also burnt a hole in the lab table at FIT because the heat cracked the porcelian tile we had the mix on. Joe had a table full of real Fulgurites. They all kinda looked like something found in a litter box...
I unintentionally produced a bunch of fulgurites when the electrical service lead to my shop shorted out into the sandy soil it was buried in. At the time when I dug it up I had no idea the whitish coral like structures were called "fulgurites," but now I know.
FridgeKim
I would use ceramic art quality dry mix. Clay is really just super fine sand. By having a smaller grain the overall structures could end up being much stronger and fuse more successfully.
Pin this comment ^
Reminds me of needles highway in South Dakota near Mt Rushmore. Granite spires shooting straight up...
Great video guys! If you make them strong enough, maybe you'll make a fundraiser out of those, like the crushed quarters!
Oh, and if I may make a suggestion : try slightly wetting the sand with a solution of sodium hydroxide (drain cleaner). That should lower the sand's melting point (that's why glass is almost never pure silica, they always add a lot of alkalis to it) and consequently increase the binding between the partly fused grains of sand, making less brittle fulgurites.
Pin this one as well ^
I would mix in small amounts of different metal powders and see if the Fulgerite comes out in a lovely color maybe because they would oxidize and pigment the glass.
Probably not, there is no fuel.
@@rlt94 look up thermite. they dont need fuel.
*
got it, modeling a terracotta pot as a simple right cylinder leads to buying extra material. Be sure to use the correct closest geometry like a truncated cone to estimate the volume to be filled (or check the manufacturer's Specifications).
The appearance doesn't change much when cleaned. I tried doing a cross section of a sample fulgurite about 1/2 inch thick with a dremel and a diamond wheel. It didn't work. The next step will be trying a wet saw, but as TGG does not have one (yet) cross sections will have to wait.
Mission accomplished, Boys, great results!
We'd love a set of hot gloves, and the tester (they're useless without proper, regular, safety testing). Find someone who wants to donate the gear and we'd be happy to talk with them.
I wanna do this on a smaller scale while blasting the sand at different frequencies to create intricate, geometric patterns. The current is just to hold the shape together after the fact.
Man, why you tease us!? Wash those things and show them off to us damn it!!! :D
19
I KNOW RIGHT!
Next... you place a single electrode (not charged or connected) into the center of the pot, same size or more cylindrical, wet sand... then use a second electrode charged with the hot stick... the non charged will act as a ground all current flowing into, down and out of the rod into the wet sand... tada, mega fulgurite
Have you tried seeding fulgurites using stranded copper wiring?
That is so cool and beautiful, they look like coral.
Check the video description :) We'll try your idea too, that could be interesting. Thank you!
There are a lot of members from all over the world, most of them are not local.
Even without being a member you can join us on the IRC and watch the video stream live from The Geek Group (check the 'live' section of TheGeekGroup website).
Oh and basic membership is free, so you can join us any time :)
10:11 Favorite line ^_^
Iv done the same thing a few years back with a resonant mot stack, but the ones i made didn't turn out as well as the one you guys made. Good video
That guy holding the pole has balls of solid iron!
Na, just a great deal of faith in engineering.
Lol…… I am absolutely addicted to these guys now!!!!
We have no idea but we are gonna do it anyway
Wait, you did the math, right???
Wait, uhm no…. I thought you did the math
Noooo, you know I can’t math
Ah, ok…. Light it up anyway Paul… let’s see what we get!!
You guys are me heroes you crazy fks💕💕💕
You need to use thumper for this experiment. Also, please for the love of god get some hot gloves and be better protected.
I think you could also try a different type of sand, like the one used in swimming pool filters. Also what do you think minimally playing around with the moisture levels would do?
Awesome! After watching you wield the hot-stick, might I suggest mounting a perpendicular handle on it so it is easier to hold? Perhaps add a curved piece so you can rest it over a shoulder or hip, like the steady-cam mount for filming?
BTW - if you do decide to make/sell these, try backfilling the fulgurites with epoxy resin to give them support. A small syringe should work if there is a small opening in the fulgurite.
That thick fulgerite, what did it look like when cleaned?
Are you going to cut it in half for a series of cross sections?
Wow that arc was incredible! To me there’s something about high energy arcs that look and sound exceedingly mean/wicked! 🤙 Very cool.
Sweet! Have you tried using a big circular cookie cutter or metal loop for one electrode, and sticking the other electrode in the center? I think that might give you a nice disc of fulgerite.
Did you ever do a follow up video? would love to see it, but cant find one on your channel :-) xxx
Amazing results but why didnt you wear UV and IR eye protection while pulling the arcs? Isnt that harmfull to your eyes?
Not all arcs are hazardous to your eyes. This is very different from a welding arc.
@@ChaoticGoodChris Ok thank you. Can you tell me when eye protection is a good idea when I pull arcs. Like, is there a power level or current level when the arc gets to bright? And also, when the arcs are not dangerous to the eye, why did you then want to put/ put on the welding mask at 13:59 min?
Thank you
loving this very very much...!!
Do you think this would be possible with silver powder instead of sand or mixed in with the sand, to create silver fulgurites?
I think it's dependent on the type of sand too, something with a high silica content will yield more results, plain dirt doesn't work as well from my experience!
Top marks! Fascinating stuff.
9:29 I thought the flower pot was going to explode
U guys play with strange toys. I wanted 2 c them washed off. If the sand turns in2 melted glass & melds on 2 a terrcata pot, do it on the out side of the pots & sell them. I would b the 1st 2 buy afew.
Im thinking of trying this at home.
The results of this remind me of castings from pouring cement or molten aluminum into ant colonies. Prior to removing the loose sand and subsequently damaging the more fragile fulgurites, is there some way to get a 3D image of the glass structure while it's still in the sand? I'm not sure if either option would work with glass and sand, but ground penetrating radar or MRI come to mind. Developing something to get a decent image of the structure would probably turn out to be a complicated project in of itself, but I think it would be quite interesting, especially if it could get the image in real-time (like ground penetrating radar) and capture the formation of the fulgurites.
try using glass sand blasting sand
hi put them in clear resin and sell them on a nice oak plinth led illuminated just a thought great work
^
how many volts did you use
So cool!
"Let's do it and see what happens" The Geek Group's mantra....
"Put it over you shoulder"...
Grabs the sand and puts it under his arm***lmao this guys a genius
Geez, you couldn't clean them up & show us what you had - I've seen sand before that's all...
Awesome :) Thumbs up :D
Alex
Woah I’ve never seen such huge pole pigs. They are massive
You'll see them again in some upcoming videos. Check out the new HV series :)
@@ChaoticGoodChris I’m subscribed and I’ll definitely watch the hv serie, i like this series of videos bc chris explains very well some topics that can be quite difficult. That’s a great channel keep on going 👍
I came here in a shuttlepod from The Facility. The Administrator sends his regards.
awesome video!! 😊 i have no expertise in this subject, but what if you packed the sand down a good amount? maybe you'd get more sturdy fulgurites? i have no idea, just a thought! i look forward to seeing your next video!! ☮️
set the current to the max
Hells yeah!!
I bet this would work a lot better and you'd get better conductivity if you used salt water to wet the sand...
high voltage + sand + water + salt = sucess
The man on the left looks like the old man from the movie Up
He looks like the joker with juoquin fenix
He seems to be the one with the brain though. The guy on the right has the confidence.
I love your videos, I would love to join the geek group but sadly I'm only 15 and I live in the netherlands :(. I especially the electric part of the geek group.
What if you made a line of conductive metal balls across or throughout the sand (in a spiral). I guess you could even connect them together with a non conductive material to let it hold form after you take it out.
Best idea ever
Did you end up making a followup video?
Next video, pour molten aluminum in ant hills and dig them up.
Leave the ants out of this
You guys are so badass!!!!!!!!!!
very cool
What Does It Smell Like?
+Trevict like lightning
+Caiden Wichert Nitrogen dioxide?
1ukjunglednbraver no ozone
high voltage can be used to make NO2 from air also..maybe not nuff voltage
1ukjunglednbraver high voltage can also create the stuff protecting the earth (ozone)
Why would you put them in series if you want them both at high voltage? is the p.d. loss negligible?
maherandcameron I still think this video was too short. They should've tryed parallel as well. And DC, play with frequency, impulses, widths, balance, etc. Got any free time and some cash? Let's make this happen.
“No, I thought you did the math”
“I did do the math but I can’t multiply”
“Ok, well you did the math, right so let’s see what happens”
“You sure we’re gonna need four of those in there”
“How ‘bout you drop a second one in there”
“ How ‘bout you do the math and we put the electrodes in first and then….”
“I did the math”
“I dunno, the electrodes …”
“No, don’t do that”
“You did the math?”
“No, I thought you did the math”
“Well, we are here now so the math will tell us”
“The math says you need four”
“But that’s not right according to my math”
“Yeah, but you can’t multiply so you’re math is wrong”
“Ok, let’s see what happens with your math”
“I math’d the container that you didn’t account for”
“Yeah, but I followed the recipe”
“ that’s ok if you followed the basics but you didn’t account for our actual variables”
“It’ll be f i n e, just pour it all in”
“We should probably redo the math”
“Just dump it all in and turn on the juice and see what we get”
“But we should do the math”
moving the poles makes differently shaped fulgerites.
I loveeee you guys
clear resin to make key rings you have probably have thought of it
would have worked better w/ dry quartz sand
Lmaooooo
why can the guy with the glasses do multi dimensional arrays in his head but he cant find the volume of that pot????
+zasabiibasaz He didn't account for the sand being wet. The water takes volume too.
hes obsessed with his side project, Frankenstiening a woman to life
Have you done this with aluminum oxide and chromium oxide to make RUBY fulgurites?
I hadn't even thought of that, but now I may have to experiment. :) Thank you!
That scares me because thats basically artificial LIGHTNING! Except on FIRE! And it also means that lightning can do that because they are just simulating lightning at a much smaller scale!
Lightning does that. Look up lichtenberg figures. It happens all the time
I thought he said: subductive
Then I was like: pfft! *laughs* what!?!?
Then I turned on subtitles I was like: ohhh.... *conductive* that makes sense
[Paul] ..... [Chris] .... text: "Chris Boden and Paul Kidewell"
Come on, that's just OCD torture
I do this with a wimpy 10kV
Oh brother....you tell the one guy not to touch but then you do , do youh have controll issues GEEK ? LOL
use thumper
I'm pretty sure fulgurites are very expensive... You just created a money farm
not quite, it's easy to tell a fake fulgurite between a real one.
these are fake fulgurites, real ones are nature made.
Can you? What are the differences?
True...
I don't know, everything I am reading online leans towards them being indistinguishable from 'natural' ones. It seems to matter entirely on the material the electrical current runs through rather than the source of the electricity.
Fulgurite also seems to be very cheap and readily available online.
Caleb Sålstrom The size first off, most fulgurites from actual thunderbolts are much much larger, most machines can't generate fulgurite sizes lightning tends to form. They won't be able to discharge electricity with the same amount of amps as a true lightning bolt which also plays an effect on the fulgurites form.
“We have no idea what we are doing”
pretty sure they arent real fractals.
they have fractal properties
Lol that room is gonna be full of so much ozone soon, all the rubber around could disintegrate.
This is what lightning looks like wat
I came after the Joe Rogan podcast
this sound like as Half life Game 😂
Gears 5 brought me here
Lol seems frustrating
holy f*#k !
Nothing new about this artform??? Made 2913 now counting 2019. Pfffth, future videos.LOL
Wow and I mean well I have no words I guess you guys have never seen been around nor worked with high-voltage electricity. I'm an industrial electrician in IBEW 776. Seen a lot of accidents electrocutions you guys apparently Have not. I get paid to work with extremely high voltage transformers, switch gears, bridge cranes, etc. An arc flash on Just a simple 200 amp, 600 volt, meter base service on your house can reach temperatures 4 times hotter than the surface of the sun and reach out 16 to 20 ft. In diameter. In less than a second your skin melts....🤢🤮 not pretty. Please be careful please🙏🙏🙏🙏
I question the veracity of your data there, sir. Could you please cite some sources on your numbers?
@@ChaoticGoodChris yes sir I can and I'm glad you asked. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday @ Bosch, BP Amico, Dupont, Intrefor (aka N.Chas paper mill), Nucor Steel, Alumax, General Dynamics, and Port Authority, (3 different locations Charleston SC). The company I work for and the plants themselves require 2 hr safety meetings where we all discuss and watch safety videos that show people getting hurt or killed doing exactly unsafe practices such as this video, for example. I used this video in the meeting yesterday. "THE ROOM WAS SILENT WITH 82 INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICIANS, SIR." Nothing safe at ALL. Sir you can look it up. What I day are facts not made up no intentions to impress.
Hell I go home everyday in 1 piece,
Depends on the service entrance arc flash wise. Could be a problem iffen it was an 800A meter CT cabinet that was 20ft of paralleled 500MCM copper away from a 167kVA padmount transformer. Not so much iffen it was 400ft of 4AWG aluminum triplex to a 10kVA pole pig. Still deadly, but not exactly needing blinky blue light maintenance mode to work on.
Also, just about every 2S meter base that doesn't have spaces for fuses or breakers is rated for 600V (cheaper and easier to make them all for 600V than making a separate line of 250V class meter pan guts). Doesn't mean it has 600V running to it.
And extra high potential is 230kV and up.
Get that hot stick off your junk! Even if you tested it, it should never touch more than your gloved hands. Safety first, never last! Have a future not a past! My journeyman lineman husband said that.