Lichtenberg figure

Lichtenberg figures are aesthetic -looking, tree, fern - or star-shaped patterns that emerge as a result of high voltage electrical discharges on or in insulating material ( dielectric). They are named after the German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who originally discovered as a two-dimensional patterns in his lab, as they formed in the dust on the surface of a charged insulator plate. Lichtenberg to his discovery in a letter to the Hanoverian officials Johann Andreas shear Hagen (1722-1785) ( Bw 1, 440, February 5, 1778):

"I made these days about some experiments on the electricity, with the resin dust that make me those discovering more and more important. Among other things I have with a single blow brought a lot of concentric Circkel [ ... ]. It is played, of course, but such a beautiful educational game that I'll never be ashamed of it. "

At that time it was assumed that the typical ramified appearance of this electrostatic phenomenon could shed light on the then still enigmatic nature of electric flux. Lichtenberg figures are typically produced by the rapid discharge or redistribution of located on the surface of insulator plates charges.

The formation of Lichtenberg figures underlying physical principles are the same, to which the modern electric Photography is based, which is used for all standard copying as photocopiers and laser printers.