Wilson Cloud chamber (1 Viewer)

[Antwan23q]

perform a first-hand investigation or gather secondary information to observe radiation emitted from a nucleus using Wilson Cloud Chamber or similar detection device.

We never really did this at school cause my teacher said its a bit of a hazard with the radiation.

thanks

 

[acmilan]

The Wilson Cloud Chamber contains alcohol vapour from methylated spirits inside a petri dish. Ice is used to cool it to very low temperatures. When alpha and beta particles are emitted from a radioactive source inside the chamber, they ionise air molecules and the alcohol condenses around the charged ions, leaving a vapour track across the petri dish. This gave an indication of the paths of the rays and also their intensities. Although the alpha particles had a shorter range, they were shown to be more intense. The beta particles had a longer range but were less intense.

Refer to:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=40925
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=16474
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=13264
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=8559

 

[Antwan23q]

hey, thanks alot mate

 

[Xayma]

Just on that note, normally dry ice is used to form a temperature gradient and there is a potential difference amoung the plates (this means that the clouds go towards the bottom/top, otherwise it would get very cloudy quickly).

 

[helper]

First tell your teacher to get their f... out. It is a mandatory experience in the syllabus. If they are afraid of the radiation, then get a video of it to show you. Or go on an excursion to Sydney uni outreach, where you can do it. Otherwise, they could send you off to gather second hand data.

There is a simulated experiment at
http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/genobc/animations/cloud.mov
Good set of results
http://www.sfcc.edu.hk/klaw/project/Radioactivity/detection/cloud.htm
Video but no comments
http://Flyman.q.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Fap_pr/Fakiribako/cloud-chamber2.mpg
http://www.uvm.edu/~dahammon/whatsnew/cloudchamber.mov

 

[acullen]

Yeah, I thought it was a requirement of doing this elective to have it practically demonstrated. It was a pretty cool thing to see I must admit.

Back when I was in Year 12, our Physics teacher kinda zapped himself on the high voltage electric plates above/below the petridish. It was funny, you could see a blue spark jump into his finger; he was a funny guy, always electrocuting himself during any experiment where an induction coil was used.

Now in uni physics... we haven't done anything more interesting than that experiment as of yet. We finally get to use radioactive sources again in the next few weeks with a Geiger Muller tube.

 

[richz]

lol nice (10 char)