Science: Spark

In a pitch dark laboratory at Leland Stanford University, a band of scientists listened expectantly to a whining roar close by them. At two points in the blackness, 20 feet apart, flickers of light appeared, dancing white, blue, violet, spreading and leaping towards each other as the roar increased. Thousands of flaming lances stabbed the night horizontally, creating the halo of glowing purple known to electrical engineers as the "corona," a sign of wasting power. The crackle of sparks intensified, culminating in a fierce explosion, as a broad, jagged ribbon of blue-edged white flame leapt across the room from electrode to electrode. It was the hugest man-made spark in history and signified success in the testing of six new transformers, stepped up to 2,100,000 volts, with which Leland Stanford experts will study the loss of power in high voltage transmission; the nature of lightning; safety in cutting off monster currents.