Cloud Chamber
Cloud chambers are crude charged particle detection mechanisms and are a great way to make particle physics more accessible to the general public. Due to their relatively low maintenance cost, they are good candidates for museum exhibitions. The cloud chamber that I build is a proof of concept exhibit prototype for the Powerhouse Science Center.
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Cloud chambers work by injecting some sort of an alcohol vapor into the top of a chamber. Most setups use a piece of felt soaked in isopropanol. As the alcohol evaporates of this felt, it sinks into the chamber. The bottom of the chamber is cooled to at least -25 degrees Celsius so that as the vapor sinks into the chamber, it becomes supersaturated in the air. When a charged particle passes through the lower part of the chamber, the alcohol condenses onto the ion trail left behind by the particle. The video to the right shows an alpha particle pass through the left side of the chamber followed by a faint electron trail through the center.
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TED TalkMy TED talk discusses the evolution of beauty in physics over time.
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Senior thesis paper
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