The same thing happens to both rings, so if the two are side by side, the positive edge of one ring will face the negative edge of the other. Opposites attract, and in a strong field, the opposite edges can attract so strongly that the electrical force will rip copper atoms off one ring and dump them into the water-filled gulf between the two. Once enough copper atoms are in the water, they begin to coalesce into a solid wire, which grows until it contacts the other ring and creates a conduit that nullifies the voltage difference between the two rings. That explains why the wires grow, but Bradley admits that many mysteries about the phenomenon will have to be solved before electrodeposition will yield useful circuits. The wires form branching, treelike structures, for example.
Smooth wires conduct higher currents and higher frequency signals more readily.
And computer logic is made from semiconductors such as silicon, as well as conductors such as aluminum. Bradley thinks he can probably make smooth semiconductor circuitry by using different materials and solvents and by strengthening the electrical field. But he has yet to prove this. But if metal particles are suspended within a porous cube, Bradley speculates, one could then use a mesh of electrodes or beams of polarized light to generate minute electrical fields and in this way to grow wires that run up and down as well as to and fro.