Cosmic Rays , Making the Invisible ,Visible ... at Home !

I saw Professor Brian Cox do this a couple of years ago and thought it an impressive but fairly simple way to detect these mysterious particles as they pass through anything that stands in their way , the Cloud Chamber makes the Invisible ,Visible.

Here are a couple of videos of self assembled Cloud Chambers and the impressive results achieved.



I will get around to building one of these myself ,far more entertaining than TV , instructions are available online for anyone interested in building their own Cloud Chamber.

a reply to: gortex

Cloud chambers are neat. I remember the other way to detect cosmic rays, turn an old TV to a blank channel (snowy screen) and turn down the contrast until you just see the barest random dots appearing on an otherwise dark screen, those are cosmic ray strikes from deep space.

Not that anyone even has an old tube television anymore. Could be difficult to reinvent…

a reply to: intrptr

Our friends loaned my parents theirs until a few months ago. It was really cool and retro - looked like something out of Space 1999.

You could make a detector using a smartphone CCD sensor. There are actually apps that accurately measure radiation in this way. if you mask off the lens of the camera from direct light with a thick sheet of card, the only way the CCD sensor will pick up bright pixels is from radiation.

Here's a snapshot of Professor Brian Cox explaining the cloud box, possibly what Gorty saw. It doesn't come across so well visually, (vagaries of the internet) but it does tell you how to go about making one.

a reply to: smurfy

That's exactly what I saw mate , thanks for posting.

Built several of these at home as a yoot. Lots of fun, if you're into that sort of thing.

Good Find

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: smurfy

That's exactly what I saw mate , thanks for posting.

Me too. That show was awesome. Liked his journeys of mind and matter.

So Cool !
Great thread !
Now I want to add colored lights and
a strobe effect!
Then add different frequencies or music
to see if cosmic rays prefer disco or rock.