The Lightning Show

I spent the day at the Museum of Science in Boston today. It is an astounding museum! So many interesting exhibits, on so many subjects, it was impossible to see them all. To add to the excitement, there was a fire alarm and we all had to evacuate the building while the fire trucks rolled up! This is a photograph of a "Lightning Show" that they present several times during the day. One of the highlights near the end of the show, is that this young woman presenter climbs into the "birdcage" and then is raised up by a hydraulic lift, close enough to the Van de Graff generators -those huge spheres which generate several hundred thousand volts - and then lightning bolts jump from the spheres to the cage, with resounding explosive sounds! Yikes! And all the time, the woman is in the cage! Wow! Very impressive.