Cloud Chamber

by jyzheng in Craft > Duct Tape

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Cloud Chamber

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Cosmic rays, they are everywhere around us but have you ever seen them? This is where the cloud chamber comes in play. A cloud chamber makes elementary particles visible to the human eye, or at least, it makes the condensation trail left by the particles travelling through the chamber visible.

Supplies

The following supplies are needed to build a cloud chamber:

  1. MDF wood
  2. Plexiglass
  3. Styrofoam
  4. Metal plate
  5. Sealing kit
  6. Electrical fly swatter
  7. Insulation strip
  8. Metal grid/mesh

Chamber Walls

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Creating the walls of the chamber is easily attainable if a laser cutting machine is at your disposal. Create a design for an open box, with a height of 20 cm and a width and length of 30 cm, and finger joints at the connecting edges (see image 1). Each component is 6 mm thick (the thicker the components the better the insulation). Upload the template to the laser cutter and the machine will do the rest. One of the walls ought to be plexiglass and the remaining walls and the bottom are all MDF plates. The result should look something like image 2. Next, spray the walls black, to increase visibility of the traces. Finally, all the walls can be glued together, with wood glue.

Downloads

Cooling Plate

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Find or create a plate with a width and length of 30 cm and spray it black. Make sure the plate is a adequate conductor, like aluminium. Stick aluminium foil pieces on the bottom of the plate. These pieces will be in contact with the liquid nitrogen during the experiment, thus the cooling process will be sped up.

Create a Tub for the Liquid Nitrogen

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Again upload template of a box with finger edge joints to a laser cutting machine. The measurements of this box should exceed the chamber's measurements by a few centimeters. The thickness of the tub is not very important, so 3 mm will suffice. Next, fill the tub with styrofoam up to the rim, but leave a square area to pour the liquid nitrogen in. With duck tape, stick cotton balls on the edge square area to minimize heat transfer through any crevasses and cover the square area with aluminum foil to make it waterproof. Lastly, make sure the area that will contain the liquid nitrogen is as airtight as possible, which can be done by applying sealing kit to the edges.

Downloads

Constructing a Grid That Creates an Electrical Field

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For this grid safety comes first. Start with insulating strips (rubber or something similar) that you apply to opposing sides of the cloud chamber walls at ~15cm height. Inside of these strips cut small grooves with a stanley knife or something similar to that. Then you start out with cutting the grid to the appropriate size, do this so that you can jam it inside of the insulating strips. Then fit the grid inside of these insulating strip and make sure it can't fall out. To create an electric field, you can make a homemade high voltage source. To do this first take an electric fly swatter. An electric fly swatter usually has 3 layers, the two outside layers being live and the inside layer being grounded. Take a clamp and use this to connect the live side to the grid. For the wiring you can drill a small hole in the side of the cloud chamber. Connect the grounded side with a clamp to the metal plate below. If you can't figure out which side is grounded/live, it's not a huge problem, but you can't distinguish if a particle is positively or negatively charged. If you press the button of the fly swatter, you now have an electric field inside your cloud chamber.

Start Up

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First pour liquid nitrogen in the tub and cover the tub with aluminium plate. Wait till the plate is cooled down until it has reached a temperature of at most -30 degrees Celcius. Then, soak the cloak in isopropanol and lay a few strips on the sides of the aluminium plate. After this, the box can be placed on the plate. Lastly, place a container with hot water on top of the chamber. Now wait for the trails to appear.


Important note: working with liquid nitrogen can be dangerous, therefore, make sure you follow alle the safety precautions that are recommended with the use of the substance. It is advised to follow a course or tutorial concerning the safety measures.