The artist who traps 'fossilised' bolts of electricity inside acrylic blocks

There's always one person on your Christmas list who already seems to have everything.

But help may be at hand... in the form of a bolt of lightning.

These stunning - literally - sculptures were made by blasting a block of acrylic with a 5million volt particle accelerator.

The effect on the material is as if a lightning flash has been frozen in time, a process that sculptor Bert Hickman calls 'Captured Lightning'.

And while a straightforward Lichtenberg figure is impressive enough, Bert and physicist friend Todd Johnson have managed to create eye-popping works in the shape of stars, butterflies, an oak tree and even the Yin Yang symbol.

Here comes the science bit.

Mr Hickman, 62, from Woodridge, Illinois, explains: 'To create our sculptures, we rent "beam time" on a 5million volt particle accelerator.

'As the accelerator injects huge numbers of electrons inside a clear acrylic plastic specimen, a huge electrical charge (typically 1 - 2.5 million volts) builds inside.'

Mr Hickman explained that he manually creates an escape route for the charge - a weakened path through the acrylic.

The charge suddenly escapes in a brief, lightning-like discharge - causing a miniature 'lightning storm'.

The intense heat from this 'lightning' creates branching patterns that have been permanently captured within the plastic.

The patterns are a 'fossilised' chain of microscopic fractures and tubes that reflect light like microscopic mirrors.

The phenomenon is named after German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who recorded the patterns in 1777.

The 'Captured Lightning' sculptures are available online for between £17-£299.