Very High Voltage Using a Transformer to Make Lichtenberg Figures

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Lichtenberg figures in wood are made through a fun, lethal process!



Lichtenberg figure is a general term for such figures made by high power electricity passing through wood, grass, glass or whatever, where the electricity can leave an impression. They look like a tree and its branches grown in hell!

Lichtenberg Figures in WoodTo make the figures on a wood:

  • Don’t use plywood like I did! a solid piece of wood does better.
  • Mix two tea spoons of baking soda and water and wet the surface of the wood liberally. Let it sit a bit so the liquid can penetrate a bit. This makes the wood conductive and electricity can pass through it.
  • Place electrodes on each side of the wood.
  • Create high voltage across the electrodes, preferably over 2000V. Remember the source has to be able to supply large amounts of power to be able to burn the wood.
  • NEVER EVER GET TOO CLOSE TO THE WOOD OR YOUR SUPPLY WHILE IT IS ON OR YOU DIE!
  • As the wood heats up and burns your liquid dries up. It is better to wet it at the beginning and not in the middle of process though, otherwise it won’t look as good.
  • If the electrodes are too close or there is too much liquid, they could arc like you saw in the video and leave giant burn marks!

Now to make high voltage, the easiest way is to use a transformer you can scavenge from old or broken microwave ovens. Quite dangerous and exposed, so be very careful. If you don’t know your way around electronic, just don’t do it!




Transformers are in general used to change the voltage and current levels between the input and output. In an ideal transformer, the “Active” input and output power are equal. The active power is what does the actual work such as generating heat. Of course there are other factors in real life that waste power such as winding wire resistances, transformer core losses and such. So the output power drops a bit as the efficiency is not 100%. But at least at no load we have the following equation:

Transformer Equationwhere N is the number of turns and V is the voltage. Also there is another useful equation to calculate the number of turns ratio if you can measure the inductance. Since the windings are both on the same core, the following equation provides relation between number of turns (Nx) and the inductance of primary and secondary (Lx):

Relationship between Transformer Inductance and TurnsAs mentioned in the video, any inductor results in a current lag, resulting in 90 degrees phase shift in an ideal inductor as shown in the picture below. At any moment of time power is equal to voltage times current. But as you see in the following picture, in some areas the power would be positive and in others negative depending on the voltage and current direction.

Inductor Voltage and Current This means although when power is positive, the inductor pulls power from the supply, it puts the same amount of power back into the AC supply when the power is negative. So the net “Active” power consumption is zero. They call this “Reactive” power. It doesn’t do the work like generating heat.

So in every transformer there is always some amount of current running into the primary (depending on the impedance of primary and loading) even if there is no load connected to the adapter. If there is any power drawn from the transformer, the phase shift is not 90 degrees any more and becomes less. So there is more power drawn from the source than the power returned to supply.

Now all inductor windings and power line wires have some small resistance and the transformers have their core losses. This means that this amount of current would generate some heat over resistive elements and such. This is one of the reasons old style transformers are not efficient, because even if you don’t use them to power anything but keep them plugged in, they still get warm and waste power. So the sooner you switch to switch-mode wall adapters,the better!



55 thoughts on “Very High Voltage Using a Transformer to Make Lichtenberg Figures”

  3. Hi Mehdi,
    That’s annoying YouTube removed your video that of us can’t watch it. By any chance, could you possibly put it as a video on Twitter or something similar? I hope that you can read this and put a video on Twitter or Instagram.

  5. Hi
    I only want to know, how much voltage is need to make for lichtenberg figure (Electron Tree) on the plastic glass.Thank you

  8. from reading comments and your build notes , i really want to see video , are you going to repost ? i wonder what made youtube mad?

  9. from reading comments and your build notes , i really want to see video , are you going to repost ? i wonder what made youtube mad?

  13. Hi I build a burner out of a old neon sign transformer. Try it out wasn’t able to get it to spark. I know my connections are good on the primary side. Because I put a light in series in the circuit.. I also used old baking soda out of the fridge as well as plywood two different kinds. Read that should of tried pine with try that to fix the problem any other help great.

    Tried then 2 other oil burner transformers I had been given for this purpose. I 1 to make small sparks. I am going to megger the high voltage lines to see if that mite be a problem. And I think I’ll do the transformers also.

    Can I use a fluorescent light tube as a high voltage “non contact voltage tester like glow stick used by linesman?

    • It’s often not instant. Wet the surface liberally. Turn it on and wait. May take up to a min to start burning.

  17. Hello sir,
    I want to buy an oscilloscope, which model is best within 125USD?

    Thanks and regards
    Vinod Devrari
    India +918057382341

  19. Sir my question about wind genrator
    Can we make from 12v alternator use for thtat wind energy ?

  20. Pingback: Very High Voltage Using a Transformer to Make Lichtenberg Figures - ElectroBOOM - #CompartiMas

    • you can very easily salvage a microwave oven transformer from an old microwave, but be aware of the risks. even though it is unplugged, there is a capacitor in there that will fry you in a microsecond. if you are not comfortable with that risk, then you buy an old scrap neon sign transformer on ebay or amazon for about 40-60USD. or you could buy a spare microwave oven transformer. plenty of options.

      • I am looking for specs for a transformer, like oil burner, neon sign.
        Not at all comfortable with a microwave unit
        HELP
        I am in canada, I have a supplier, but he is asking all sorts of questions that I can’t answer.
        Help again

        • If you go to a decent sign writer business that sometimes deals with Neon, they normally have old neon sign transformers and would likely do you a deal on opne. or find at local scrap yards. the other easy high voltage can be made from a flyback transformer from old CRT Tvs and a ZVS driver. avoid modern neon sign transformers, you want the old school type. you can also use the ZVS driver to run other transformers and even car ignition coils, these drivers can be made with basic skill or can be brought made up from ebay.

  22. Hi
    I want to buy a transformator for make Lichtenberg Figures on wood . Please tell me the voltage and ampere and other Specifications for that.
    Thanks a lot.
    Golpour

    • i would think anything from an nst upwards would work. i haven’t tried an nst myself, but it can create a very long arc that can generate plenty of plasma and heat.

      • My drive and so lye writing about this page place in lye network mode changes my network so 3g not be changed by using the first time lye

    • Hi sir
      Can you please delete my comment on your site.
      Because, your website linked to my site on your comment box.
      And it’s affect on my website SEO. So Kindly remove that.

      Very High Voltage Using a Transformer to Make Lichtenberg Figures
      https://www.electroboom.com/?p=963
      Sumanta on October 26, 2017 at 7:07 pm

  28. How did you open the “wall warts?” I’ve got one that is incredibly hard to open (and I would like to open it)…

  29. hi boom . I am from India and I suppose to know how can u get a desire design onot the wood

  30. hi i’m an audience of yours from china.
    i’m very interested in physics.
    i think that your video is of great fun and have a great influence to education.
    BUT,DO BE CAREFUL when you do such dangerous experiences.
    i believe that the accident in “Very High Voltage Using a Transformer to Make Lichtenberg Figures” is not what you expected.when a watch the video,i feel very horrible.

  31. I am trying to get this to work, and while I could get it to work a few times it appears my neon sign transformer will not work for me due to ground fault protection… Is there anything I can do to remedy this, or will the transformer have to have no ground fault protection to work?

    • Basically, the ground protection is not essential for the functionality, it is “just” a safety item. So if you don’t care about safety, you can simply disconnect the ground protection.
      But somehow your question sounds like you are not really familiar with electricity so you better stop your experiments as this one can easily turn into a fatal one!

      BTW: I want the meter so badly!!!!

  34. Hi Mehdi.
    Which is the best physics branch like astrophysics and quantum physics. or any others.
    Which branch is required for electrical engineering

  36. I want to have that meetah(!!!) Since i would like to measure the milli-Henry of that mono-brow of yours… I’m a very big fan of all your funny video’s, it must be hard to create those funny like shortages that look quite dangerous…

  37. I think, technically, you are measuring the mutual inductance of the transformer. By taking an inductance measurement of the primary on a transformer with the 2ndary leads left open you are measuring the mutual inductance. Primary inductance could measured by shorting the 2ndary leads.

  38. GIMMI DAH MEATER
    Just found your YouTube , very funny and educational.

    Go the million dollar on AGT!

  40. Give me dah meetah!

    On a serious side, thank you for making these videos. My 4th grader is using these as ideas for her school projects and she is hooked on them. She built a simple parallel circuit of 24 LEDS, 2 AA batteries and a toggle switch and can not wait to work on other projects.

  43. Just signed up as a patreon. Love the videos! You’re the best!!! I would love to see a patreon-only (?) video that covers you demystifying how you are always accidentally blowing stuff up. some of it is forced, right? some of it may even be staged with prop pieces that you can destruct without affecting your primary apparatus? So funny, even if we know that it is on purpose. It is on purpose right? (most of the time.) You must shred a lot of stuff by arcing/shorting it! And if you choose to keep this all part of the “special sauce”, I’m sure we’ll all understand too.

    I have a transformer core from a junked sub-woofer system (all in one). weighs about 5 lbs, so fairly beefy. Inputs are 120, and there are 3 sets of outputs at 26v, 25v, and 13v. what happens when using the “outputs as inputs” to generate higher voltage? If I connected 120v power to the 13v “output winding” would then generate something like 9×120 on the original “input winding” ? what would happen with the other originally-an-output-winding of 26v-target? just asking broadly here as a curious question. I’m not going to use it like that. yes, I realize that I’d need to compute the windings to know for sure…

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