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Nov 5, 2009: Fulgurites
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.
link
SPUCK Thursday Nov 5 06:46 AM
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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
As fragile as they are beautiful, fulgurites are the next best thing to holding a lightning bolt in your hand!
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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
So next time you're playing in the sandbox (watch out for cat poop), or at the beach(watch out for nails and burning embers), if you see one of these...
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Sundae Thursday Nov 5 07:03 AM
Ooh lovely!
I've been fascinated by fulgarites for years (since reading The Crow Road by Iain Banks).
Now I know they can look dirty too!
It's all gravy 
dacliff Thursday Nov 5 09:02 AM
I first heard about this in a chick-flick from not so long ago:
Sweet Home Alabama
The ones in the movie looked a hell of a lot different tho, not at all like calcified turds.
monster Thursday Nov 5 09:28 AM
I'm pretty sure I di'int.....
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glatt Thursday Nov 5 09:35 AM
That's a vulgurite, not a fulgurite.
monster Thursday Nov 5 09:43 AM
perfect
Cloud Thursday Nov 5 09:44 AM
it's the Sarlacc! run for your lives!
dacliff Thursday Nov 5 10:00 AM
Actually, 'tis coprolite
xoxoxoBruce Thursday Nov 5 12:23 PM
Don't gimme that shit.
Gravdigr Thursday Nov 5 02:58 PM
I've got some other shit over here you might like...
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