Life Saver Lightning

Destin, I am curious, as Scott asked, it would be really interesting to see what other electromagnetic radiation is emitted from this phenomena. Any plans to scan the EM spectrum while this effect is happening? This would make me even smarter-er Every Day; to know whether and which other radiation is generated.

Or, it could just be arcing that's generating the light output....

Scott Marshall

The return key got me. Anyway, it's my initial thought that it's possible this is a couple of known effects working together, 1st you have piezoelectric generation of electricity, then the electric current causes electroluminescence. I admit this is all off-the-cuff, and I'm speaking before researching what is actually known about this. I'm hoping maybe my thoughts may give you a few experiments to try, maybe fire the pellet gun empty and see if the air does indeed cause light emission. The scope test already mentioned, along with maybe hitting the lifesaver with high voltage from a piezo ignitor or ignition coil to see if it generates light without force input (which would support my 2 stage theory, 1st electrical generation, then electroluminescence) Thanks for the glimpse behind the scenes and best wishes to your family. Scott

Scott Marshall

A couple of things I'd like to pass on. - #1 it looks like there is light emission before the pellet actually touched the LS. Is it possible that the air in front of the bullet is able to cause the effect alone? I wonder if this is a piezoelectric phenomena? That leads me to #2 - Are you familiar with the lightning associated with earthquakes? The way I understand it, is the prevailing theory is it's produced by piezo-electric action of the silicon (quartz) crystals under extreme compression. Maybe it's NOT electrical, but a result of triboluminescence. I know little of this effect and need to do some research, but I thought that may be something you can use as you investigate this. Maybe wire up the lifesaver with an oscilloscope and syncronize the scope with your high speed images?

Scott Marshall

Wow, that was spectacular!

SexBook _____ ADULT PHOTO AND VIDEO SIGNATURES

Do you think there'd be anything to see in the ultra-violet range or beyond?

Randy B

Wow. in one frame the thing lit up (ever so slightly) even before the bullet hit it. VERY COOL. interestingly Methodically Incorrect (a podcast) also hit sugar recently :)

Chris K

Man! Outstanding! :O

I'm glad you made that comment about the sound, I was just wondering that because I just listened to this: <a href="http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/sounds-natural/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/sounds-natural/</a>

Destin, isn't this the piezo effect? I've only seen (and used) the piezo effect associated with a quartz crystal, but does this occur with any crystalline structure? One of the characteristics of piezo crystals is that when a physical force is applied, a voltage is generated. However, a voltage can also be applied to a piezo crystal and will result in a physical change to the quartz crystal. I worked on a helicopter rotorblade that had piezo crystal actuators built into it that moved the trailing edge of the blade to trim the blade's flight characteristics. It required a charge of of 500 volts or move to cause the crystal to grow and move the trim-tab. So, if the lifesaver is simply demonstrating the sparks of the piezo effect, will a high voltage applied to the lifesaver result in the sugar crystals growing? And, will you see the same triboluminescence with other simple crystals? Like salt?

Earl

Any chance patrons can get the full-resolution stills of shooting the Life Savers? There were some really neat frames in there.

Austin Burnham

This is amazing!

J.L. Zenor