Electricity

Sample: Pure, raw power. Technically, it's a plasma, not electricity. But who's counting?
Source: Well, the juice came from the wall socket. Probably from the Rock River hydroelectric plant.

Take 110 volt wall current.

Add a high-voltage neon sign transformer (the sign used to say "Marine Hardware," and used to be on the wall of a restaurant called the Crystal Rose in Littleton, CO. Later, this building was turned into a haunted house, and then torn down. Somewhere in there, I ended up with the transformer. Come up with a story about how it happened. Involve ninjas, and possibly Dick Cheney.)

What do you get?

About 35,000 volts of raw, arcing power.



Electricity, 60x. This is what's known as a "corona" discharge. As opposed to the images that will follow, this is electricity leaking from the leads into the air.



Electricity, 60x. A proper arc, electrode to electrode.

Notice the horizontal lines? You can't have that much arcing without producing a heck of a lot of radio noise, which does not agree with the microscope electronics.



Electricity, 60x. At this point, my surroundings began to smell like ozone. I figured I should stop while I was ahead.