Exploding stuff is simple and fun. Just put the conductive stuff to be exploded across the capacitor output and it will vaporize (unless it’s a hot dog). The capacitor bank is discharging 5 kJ in to some steel wool for more impressive sparkler effects.
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The explosion above was perhaps 6 kJ into some steel wool and a bit of aluminium foil. The photo was a 4 second exposure starting just after the initial very bright flash. This avoids the white-out effects and gives a darker background with better definition of the sparks.
My son suggested the central front on shot to give a Terminator like look for the photo at the top of the page. It also blocks out a direct view of the flash.
A fun display at my occasional open days. Here in 2010. “Hands over your ears”.
This shows one of my first shots with a small skein of steel wool (used as an abrasive cleaner) placed across the electrodes and fired at 2 kJ.
This is the steel wool wrapped around the two electrodes. For the best effects shooting upwards the electrodes can be pointed upwards. Like a railgun, the Lorenz effects will shoot it forward in that direction.
The shot above had only a short distance from busbar to steel wool hence little railgun effect. The sparks go both front and back and miss me entirely. 
This shot had longer electrodes and “fires” forwards and upwards. It was taken at 3 kJ but I routinely use 10 kJ now.
I have a cap and earmuffs as safety gear but the sparkles are harmless and just tend to bounce off skin, just like angle grinder sparks.
I took it out on the trailer and took a shot at 5 kJ in a local industrial driveway. This exploding stuff is tremendously loud and is like a gunshot. This is pretty significant in Australia where there are very few guns. It is best if I can fire this on fireworks nights like New Years day, Australia Day and fireworks events at the nearby speedway.
The photo above shows a 4 inch strip of aluminium foil placed across the electrodes and fired at 2 kJ in a similar manner to the above. The photo is a whiteout due to the huge flash and bang. The right photo shows a mistimed shot with the burning aluminium fragments floating down after the shot. You can still see the remnants of the smoke from the shot.
Related pages
Exploding wiresTry something else
Fluorescent minerals
External links
Photo Date: Dec 31, 2005