Nov 5, 2009: Fulgurites

[xoxoxoBruce]

Fulgurites are fused sand trails, often with a glass lined hollow core, that are the result of lightning strikes on loose sandy soil.

Few of nature’s elemental phenomena are more powerful yet less permanent than lightning… well, not exactly. Fulgurites, or “petrified lightning”, are the glassy trails of lightning strikes left in sandy soil or exposed rocks. As fragile as they are beautiful, fulgurites are the next best thing to holding a lightning bolt in your hand!

Since they're so hard to find in nature, why not make your own?
All you need is some sand, and some lightning.

Downed power lines are one thing; artificially triggering lightning to make DIY fulgurites is another thing entirely. That’s exactly what artist Allan McCollum has done, however, not one but some hundreds of times in the summer of 1997. The results range from slim glass tubes no larger than soda straws to the Mother Of All Fulgurites, a fork-tailed monster over 17 feet deep that the Guinness World Book of Records has recognized as the world’s longest.

So next time you're playing in the sandbox (watch out for cat poop), or at the beach, if you see one of these...

...probe it.

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