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Shockfossils — The Book of Changes, detail
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Published: 2009-08-23 17:41:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 3710; Favourites: 28; Downloads: 268
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Description
Close up of the Yin/Yang figures in "The Book of Changes".Two 8" square acrylic slabs were irradiated by a 3 million electron volt e-beam in specific regions and then the trapped charge was manually released, forming these patterns in under a millionth of a second.
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Comments: 7
I take it this isn't a type of art someone can do in their living room, is it? 
You could probably file all these lovely pieces under Fractal Art -> Traditional Media Fractals without any trouble. That category needs more love.
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That is correct; These aren't something anyone can do at home. I only get to make these one or two days a year when I have access to the accelerator. There's a year of planning and preparation, and then one very very frantic day irradiating and discharging the pieces.
You really need at least 2 million volts to make this work. Higher voltages would allow greater flexibility in charging the pieces.
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What would happen if you did this to a Lucite slab with objects cast in it?
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I've never tried a piece of acrylic with something cast into it. Depending on what the object was made of, it might cause the piece to discharge in an unwanted fashion, or it might do something cool!
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I don't understand why shielding the surface with lead would cause the charge to take a shape inside the slab of Lucite. The charge is directed at the end isn't it? Why does a lead shield affect the area under it?
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The electron beam is shot at the surface, not the edge of the slab. The lead stops the beam before it enters the acrylic, so the embedded charge has the profile of the openings in the lead.
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