Massimo 
If you take a Petri dish, castor oil and some ball bearings and put all in an electric field, you might happen to spot an interesting behavior: self-assembling wires who appear to be almost alive
[📹 Stanford Complexity Group]
panu@Rainmaker1973
Okay, so can somebody please explain the science behind this? I'm guessing it has something to do with the electricity finding the path of least resistance, kinda like how lightning strikes where it strikes, or something. By how/why is it able to _make_ the path for itself, as appears to be happening here?
Okay, so can somebody please explain the science behind this? I'm guessing it has something to do with the electricity finding the path of least resistance, kinda like how lightning strikes where it strikes, or something. By how/why is it able to _make_ the path for itself, as appears to be happening here?
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKhere is a more detailed video of the experiment - you need 20 000 volts for it to happen - it is likely that magnetic fields are attracting the balls, although the paths they take are still under investigation (unfortunately Professor Alfred Hübler passed away in 2018).
It *is* possible to try it at home if you can get a 20 kV supply and have the space and knowledge to do the experiment safely 😉
Self-Assembling Wires
Pieter Kuiper 🌍🇳🇱@vfrmedia @shadowdancer @Rainmaker1973 Before there is the connecting path there is no current so no magnetic fields. The conducting balls are moved by electrostatic fields. Those fields change when the balls move and touch.
Then when a connecting path is formed (percolation) maybe the magnetic fields are strong enough to move the balls in a different direction so that the path gets broken up again?