This tree branch is screaming!
Seriously, it actually is making screaming noises as it catches fire on a group of power lines.
The power lines above your head aren’t insulated. This video is a graphic illustration of that fact. The branch connects the two wires, and things immediately get eerie.
Escaping gas and steam make the branch shriek as it catches fire.
The spectacular arcing flame at the end is, I think, the electricity moving through plasma — a state of matter in which electrons come unhooked from their atoms and the two swim around in a kind of extremely conductive soup.
As the last of the plasma dissipates in the air, the connection between the two wires subsides. It’s a good show.
But why does this branch spontaneously combust when it hits them, and birds that land on power lines don’t?
Be careful even getting close to power lines. Let the branch be a lesson to you.
