I'd be tempted to fill it with water with something dissolved in it to make it more conductive (and probably more viscous), and include LEDs whose brightness and/or color reflects the conductivity at their location. The rationale being, why should I do all that math when Nature will do it for me?
Isn't that precisely his first idea? A device containing a conductive liquid (mercury) that takes care of closing the circuits and the turning on the LEDs.
I'd be tempted to fill it with water with something dissolved in it to make it more conductive (and probably more viscous), and include LEDs whose brightness and/or color reflects the conductivity at their location. The rationale being, why should I do all that math when Nature will do it for me?