{"id":232657,"date":"2026-03-06T01:25:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/making-mini-lightning-in-a-block-of-plastic"},"modified":"2026-03-06T01:25:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:25:32","slug":"making-mini-lightning-in-a-block-of-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/making-mini-lightning-in-a-block-of-plastic","title":{"rendered":"Making mini-lightning in a block of plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/making-mini-lightning-in-a-block-of-plastic.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lightning formation and the conditions triggering it have long been shrouded in a cloud of mystery, but new research led by Penn State scientists is lifting the fog. Using mathematical calculations, the researchers have discovered that lightning-like discharge doesn\u2019t require a storm cloud\u2014it could be made inside everyday material on a lab bench. The study is <a href=\"https:\/\/link.aps.org\/doi\/10.1103\/4p6l-rzck\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in the journal Physical Review Letters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe applied the same exact models that we use for lightning research but shrank down the scale to slightly larger than a deck of cards,\u201d said Victor Pasko, professor of electrical engineering at Penn State and lead author on the paper. \u201cWe calculated that when supplied with a high-powered electron source, lightning can be triggered in everyday insulating materials like glass, acrylic and quartz.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team used detailed numerical simulations to show that lightning-like radiation bursts could form inside small solid blocks, under conditions <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.ado5943\" target=\"_blank\">achievable in the lab<\/a>. The work, if proven experimentally, could have implications for more compact and potentially safer X-ray sources in doctors\u2019 offices and security checkpoints, the researchers said. The primary benefit, however, would be to enable the study of a powerful natural phenomenon on a lab bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lightning formation and the conditions triggering it have long been shrouded in a cloud of mystery, but new research led by Penn State scientists is lifting the fog. Using mathematical calculations, the researchers have discovered that lightning-like discharge doesn\u2019t require a storm cloud\u2014it could be made inside everyday material on a lab bench. The study [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2229,1492],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-mathematics","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}