![]() Von Hippel reasoned that the unique Lichtenberg patterns resulted from interactions between the ionized gas and the dielectric surface of the material, and discovered he could change the length of the branching pattern simply by increasing the applied voltage or reducing the surrounding air pressure. In the 1920s, Arthur von Hippel and others recorded light from high voltage electrical discharges onto photographic film. The fundamental principles underlying Lichtenberg’s experiments set the stage for modern plasma physics research. His conclusions were published in his 1777 memoir, Super Nova Methodo Naturam ac Motum Fluidi Electrici Investigandi. Lichtenberg noted two distinctive types of patterns: one for a positive charge, which had longer, more elaborate branching, and the other for a negative charge, which more closely resembled a shell. Then he sprinkled the material’s surface with a mix of powdered sulfur, red lead and lead tetroxide and watched the patterns form, before pressing a piece of paper onto the surface to transfer those images to the paper. He constructed a large electrostatic generator, known as an electrophorus, measuring six feet in diameter, and used that to study the behavior of the electric fire–including figuring out how to record the branching patterns left in the wake of electrical discharges.įirst he used the electrophorus to administer a high voltage charge to an insulating material, such as resin, glass or hard rubber. ![]() He was among the first to bring Franklin’s lightning rods to Germany, installing several around his home in Göttingen, and was an early adopter of using apparatus in his own lab experiments. Lichtenberg’s enthusiasm for the electric fire remained undiminished by such tragic accidents. At least one scientist (Georg Wilhelm Reichmann) died in the attempt to replicate Franklin’s experiment, due to an unfortunate encounter with ball lightning. Benjamin Franklin was one of them, proposing his famous experiment with an elevated “lightning rod” or wire to “draw down the electric fire” from a storm cloud, with the experimenter standing in the protection of an enclosure similar to a soldier’s sentry box. This was an era when scientists across the Western world were fascinated by electricity–or, as they termed it, “electric fluid,” with many engaging in experiments to study charged objects and how sparks jumped between them, using all manner of apparatus, including Leyden jars and electricity tubes. In these waste books, he jotted down random facts, observations on human nature, short sketches from his life, even his current bedside reading material, along with scientific notes from his many experiments. Today Lichtenberg’s literary reputation is most closely associated with his aphorisms, collected over many years in personal journals he called “waste books” (Sudelbücher). But he enjoyed an excellent reputation as a satirist as well as a scientist, and was wildly popular with women, enjoying several romances before marrying one Margarethe Kellner, who bore him six children. Lichtenberg cut an interesting figure: a spinal deformation left him hunchbacked, a condition that caused serious difficulties with his breathing in his later years. Eventually he became a professor of physics there, a job he held for the rest of his life. Initially his family could not afford to pay for his education, but a grant from a generously minded aristocratic patron enabled the boy to attend Göttingen University. The colloquial name is “lightning flowers,” but they are also called “Lichtenberg figures” in honor of 18th century physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.īorn in 1742 to a pastor in Darmstadt, Germany, Lichtenberg was the youngest of seventeen children, and evinced a natural curiosity and penchant for math and science at an early age. Victims struck by lightning often develop red, branching patterns across their skin, often lasting several days, likely caused by delicate capillaries under the skin rupturing from the shock of the electrical discharge–a natural example of fractals.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |