Using 4,563 beads positioned in a 3D grid, this sculpture illustrates an electron and a proton (the two large black beads) and how the electrostatic potential of this charge configuration varies in the 3D space around it. The larger, darker colored beads located closest to these point sources represent the locations where the electrostatic field is most strongly negative or positive, with the bead size shrinking and the color lightening as the absolute magnitude of the electrostatic potential decreases to zero. The beads were dyed with alcohol ink and then strung on thin acrylic rod with precisely cut pieces of plastic straws used as spacers based on plans generated using a Python script.
Special thanks to Mads Ledbetter and Amos Manneschmidt.