Re: Cloud chamber experiment

[Neon John <johngdNOSPAM@bellsouth.net>]

"H.B. Knowles" wrote:
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> At 17:36 04/14/2000 Friday, you wrote:
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> >I just received a call from a local HS science teacher. He wants to do a cloud
> >chamber experiment with his students. He wants to try first before he does it
> >before his class. 

<snippity>
 
> What we have here is a problem in experimental physics: you may have to
> adjust some aspects here & there to make it . Work. But no one can tell you
> with certainty that it will work, the way you have set it up. I would for
> example. recommend well washed Petri dishes  to keep the system clean and
> free from dust and grease. I think the operation would work best in
> moderate light. But the point is, don't ask us, go try it and find out for
> yourself. There is-in this case, anyhow- no penalty for doing it wrong and
> a great deal of satisfaction in fiddling with it until you do it right. It
> is a real addiction, laboratory work, and one worth acquiring.

Absolutely!!!!  Don't talk about it, just do it!  Hey, I've only
been blown on my keester a couple of times in my life.  I weep when
I read where people are asking questions that could be answered for
themselves with a small experiment or some research.

Use the Search (engine), Luke!

The internet is chock-full of science stuff.  I never cease to be
amazed at how many people don't know to use the search engines for
serious research.  A brief search on http://www.dogpile.com (a meta
search engine that submits your query to about a dozen major search
engines.) yielded the following:

http://www.globaldialog.com/sprsaturated/  A commercial source of
cloud chambers.
http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/  How-to article on building a
cloud chamber
http://pc53.phy.nau.edu/staff/cervantez/cloudlinks.html  Links to
cloud chamber pages.  Excellent
http://www.scidiv.bcc.ctc.edu/Physics/Cloudchmbr.htm  Excellent
step-by-step procedure (including 8X10 color glossy photographs..
sorry :-) for building a fruit jar cloud chamber.  Community college
site.
http://hepwww.ph.man.ac.uk/~mcnab/cloud/  An expansion type cloud
chamber

In addition, there are several very good articles in old Amateur
Scientist columns.  Here are some of interest from SAS's index.  

Cloud chamber. diffusion, 
    1952 Sep, pg 179 
Cloud chamber, plumber's friend. 
    1956 Dec, pg 169 
Cloud chamber, Wilson, 
    1956 Apr, pg 156 
Cloud chamber. with magnet, 
    1959 Jun pg 173 

The top two are reprinted in "The Scientific American Book of
Projects for the Amateur Scientist".  This long out-of-print book is
a treasure-trove of science for the hobby experimenter.  This is
amateur science from the 60s before the safety nazis took over.  I
had done just about every experiment in the book by the end of high
school, something that greatly enhanced my subsequent career.  This
book is still available from rare book dealers.  After I lost my
original in a fire, I paid, er, handsomely for a replacement in not
nearly as good a condition.

The plumber's friend cloud chamber is a particularly nifty project
in that it requires nothing more exotic than a plunger, a Coleman
Lantern globe and a few other bits and pieces.  It is an
expansion-type cloud chamber and the plunger is the expansion
element.  No need for dry ice or any other hard-to-find stuff.  If
you can't find it anywhere else, I can scan the article and put it
up on my web page.

Finally, anyone interested in science and research beyond just
making a living ought to be a member of SAS, the Society of Amateur
Science, http://www.sas.org.  SAS is about doing serious science on
a budget by amateurs (some amateurs defined as world class
scientists working in their spare time.)  Founder Dr. Shawn Carlson
won a 1999 MacAurthur Fellowship Grant (to the tune of $290,000!)
for his work in promoting science.  The Technical Advisory Board
contains two Nobel Laureates as well as dozens of other prominent
scientists.  SAS could use some more active nuclear members so check
it out.

Getting involved with SAS will show you a stark illustration of just
how hostile our government has become to amateur science.  Several
years ago, a number of members decided to try to win The CATS (cheap
Access To Space) prize, funded by the FINDS group (Foundation for
the Non-Governmental Development of Space).  This is a contest that
will award a large monetary prize to the first non-governmental
entity to put a rocket into outer space.  The team had a rocket
built and ready to launch about 4 years ago.  The rest of the time
has been spent fighting the government's attempts to keep them from
launching.  This extended to the FAA's threatening to fine the group
if they launched from a barge located in international waters, their
authority coming, apparently, solely by virtue of the members being
American Citizens.  The prize would have been awarded to SAS to
further its agenda.  Sad. <rant mode off>

PS:  If anyone on this list knows any governmental secret handshakes
(AKA influential people) that might get this process off top dead
center, please feel free to contact me.

John

-- 
John De Armond
johngdSPAMNOT@bellsouth.net
http://personal.bellsouth.net/~johngd/
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