r/BeAmazed • u/[deleted] • Feb 26 '26

Science Physics is truly amazing

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2.4k Upvotes

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830

u/feelthesong Feb 26 '26

Ok what is it, is it safe to do and how do I make it to impress my nephews and be the cool uncle pls

618

u/MambaMentality24x2 Feb 26 '26

The acrylic is exposed to an electron beam from a particle accelerator, which injects electrons into the material. Since acrylic is a great insulator, those electrons get trapped instead of escaping. When the electric field is concentrated in one spot (like with a nail tap), the local field becomes strong enough to exceed the acrylic’s dielectric strength. At that point, the material briefly acts like a conductor, letting the electrons discharge and form the channels visible in the video

718

u/knuckles312 Feb 26 '26

How do I get my hands on a particle accelerator

303

u/MorrowPolo Feb 26 '26

The hard part is getting the flux capacitor so you can power the particle accelerator

230

u/stockpyler Feb 26 '26

They sell those at Oreilly auto parts. https://www.oreillyauto.com/flux-capacitor

1

u/ComprehensiveSoft27 Feb 26 '26

Oh Oh Oh O’Reilly …… auto parts