What To Do With A Cloud Chamber

How to use a cloud chamber as a hobby and what you'll see in it

[@MountainRaven1960]

What happens when particles lose their energy and stop moving?

[@wayneschmidt490]

Hello! Thank you for commenting! I'm not a particle physicist, but from what I've read, if the particle is an electron, as it comes to a stop it will attach to an atom, giving the atom a negative charge. If the particle is a muon, it decays into a neutrino and an electron. If the particle is an alpha particle, it'll pick up an electron from somewhere and go back to being a helium atom.

[@MountainRaven1960]

So, recycling on a small scale.

[@w53191]

This is extremely cool! Could you upload a full length video of what you were able to capture? So we could analyze for ourselves?

[@wayneschmidt490]

Thank you for your interest, but I no longer have the cloud chamber. Thanks for commenting!

[@PK-lc4fx]

a masterpiece on the cloud chamber. Salute to you sir for your explanation and work.

[@wayneschmidt490]

Thank you, and thanks for the comment!

[@FranktheDachshund]

Thank you for putting this together, very interesting and informative.

[@wayneschmidt490]

You're welcome! And thanks for commenting!

[@joecooksey4331]

I did this about a month ago and kept seeing RED flashes/streaks. I turned off the flashlight and with a big coat over my head to block out any extraneous light kept seeing the same thing. To make sure I wasn't seeing things I got my wife to look as well and she confirmed the RED flashes/streaks. I need to repeat this with my Nikon dslr and see if I can photograph what I am seeing.

[@wayneschmidt490]

Wow! I've never noticed that. Please let me know if you're able to capture it on video.

[@owlredshift]

@@wayneschmidt490 Very diplomatic answer.

[@sm6fie]

Nice video! What is the lowest energy level in eV that can be detected in your opinion? For example is it possible to detect an Beta particle with an energy of 30 eV?

[@wayneschmidt490]

The problem is that very low energy electrons travel such short distances before coming to a complete stop that their tracks are too short to see. After hours of searching, I found one Quora reference stating that in a hydrogen bubble chamber, this minimum energy is around 100 ev. I was extremely dissatisfied that I could find no information correlating electron energy to track length in cloud chambers. One approach I tried was that if the track of the average delta ray is 1/8th inch and I knew its energy, then by considering how hard it is to record that size delta ray, the assumption could be made any track shorter than 1/32 inch would be impossible to see, providing a rough idea of the lowest energy visible. But after search dozens of sites talking about delta rays, I couldn't find a single one that gave the slightest hint at how much energy a delta ray has. Sorry I could not answer your question.

[@wayneschmidt490]

Update! The following involves so much guesswork it's hardly worth considering. But at least it's something. I found a KZbin video showing beta decay of PB-210 in a cloud chamber. Based on the size of the needle in the eye of which the PB was painted, I guess that the beta tracks were around 2-inches long. PB-210 emits most of its beta particles with an energy of 15,000 ev. Accepting the 1/32nd-inch minimum length criterium from my first reply, then the minimum energy to make a track long enough to be seen would be around 235 ev.

[@SomethingAbtScience]

Very well explained.

[@wayneschmidt490]

Thank you!