Spring 2023 ProjX Project

First, I wired the power supply, and then I assembled the main component: a Peltier thermoelectric cooler. The hot side was attached to a computer fan as a heat sink, and the cold side faces upwards (for the chamber).

Nice and cold. 

Cut a square of scrap copper (for the plate, to go on top of the Peltier cooler).

For better visibility of the particle tracks against the mist in the light.

The black square + ring goes around the base of the copper plate, providing a platform/enclosure. I also couldn't find M4 screws so I 3D printed them. In a future iteration I will not be 3D printing this- at least not with PLA- it cracked.

So RGB, so disco, so party, so fun, what better way to visualize radiation!?

Having that vertical space is good for maintaining a thermal gradient, but if I could do this project over, I would do it with a plastic/acrylic/not-glass bell. Because IPA (best vapor for cloud chambers) has a relatively low flash point (12 deg C), the consequences of an ignition in a glass bell are much riskier than plastic, for example...

Unable to maintain a stable cloud, due to air currents inside the bell (coming from below due to the heat sink's fan). So, I tried sealing the 3D-print/Cu plate boundary with hot glue (immediately cracked due to the cold), and silicon tape (which worked... once, until moisture got underneath it).

I have a small rock sample of autunite, which fluoresces under UV light! Autunite is approx. 48% uranium, which is an alpha emitter, perfect for cloud chambers. 

Day-of the expo, I found out that the silicon tape stopped working to seal the chamber because moisture got underneath it. I'm exploring using a special thermal paste to reseal it.