⚡️ These branching patterns aren’t trees. They’re electricity made visible. What you’re seeing are Lichtenberg figures — fractal discharge patterns formed when high-voltage electrical breakdown propagates through an insulating material. Named after physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1777), these structures reveal how charge distributes and dissipates through matter under extreme electric fields. 🔬 The Physics When a strong electric field exceeds a material’s dielectric strength (its maximum electric field tolerance before breakdown), electrons accelerate and collide with atoms in a process called impact ionization. This creates an electron avalanche → forming a conductive plasma channel → which branches as it propagates through regions of least electrical resistance. The result? A self-similar, tree-like pattern known as a dielectric breakdown fractal. These patterns arise because: • Electric fields intensify at sharp tips (field enhancement effect) • Charge redistributes ...