Cloud Chamber

A cloud chamber is a particle detector  used for visualizing the passage of ionizing radiation which was invented in the 1800's.

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A cloud chamber consists of a sealed environment which contains a supersaturated vapor, in this case 100% isopropyl alcohol poured into the sponge.  The plate at the bottom of the device is brought down to a very low temperature where this vapor can occur.  A high voltage field must also be provided in the area between the sponge and the plate.  The resulting vapor is disturbed by ionizing radiation such that occurs with the passage of alpha and beta particles.  This produces a straight or wispy trail through the vapor which can be seen.  For more information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_chamber.

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This build came about as a result of someone giving me a broken ice machine.  Of course what else would you do but build a cloud chamber out of the parts.  On the base of the chamber you can see a grid of rods and a white circle.  The rods are thoriated welding rods and the white circle contains a piece of Americium from a smoke detector.  They were placed in there to increase the action, although tracks of particles can be seen with out them.

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This was a fun build and will be donated to a school at some point.