This fulgurite is the result of lightning striking sand. It leaves a cast of fused sand with a central empty channel.
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Fulgurite with central channel outlined by the red wire extending 3/4 of the way to the base.
Central channel outlined by a laser.
I would like to try some of this stuff myself.
Not having direct access to lightning, I have a couple of choices. I could use a high voltage like 10 kV from my Tesla coil supply and draw a spark at a reasonably high power through some sand. Heating over perhaps a minute would be what I had in mind.
Alternatively I could use the pulse capacitors to do this in a more lightning like manner. Containing that type of energy might just explode the sand away without much effect but using an inductor might slow the process a bit without affecting total energy. This might not be as easy as it sounds. Some high voltage fuses are sand filled to dampen power arc formation after the fuse blows.
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Photo Date: Jan 1, 2014