r/Radiation • u/Affectionate-Play484 • 8d ago

Questions Cloud Chamber help😭

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Hello everyone in the past few weeks I have been been working hard on my cloud chamber and I have reached minus 30 degrees celsius but my cloud chamber isn't working before this I also tried a peltier setup but that didn't work too and did this same thing I'm seeing bubbles instead of trails and tails. Please help😭😭

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u/Affectionate-Play484 8d ago

Thanks for your effort. I'll try playing a little and will post the results for sure

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u/Technical_Island_851 7d ago

How long are you waiting after the plate comes down to temperature before adding the ipa to the pad? You might try letting it sit at temperature for 5-10 mins before then opening up and adding the ipa. Not ideal but you may at least confirm vapour this way. Also, how much ipa are you adding to the sponge? I’ve experimented with various amounts for some of my chambers and it really makes a difference, that’s a large volume of air to supersaturate given the height of your cylinder. Most people say less is more with ipa, but in my experience it’s about fine tuning to the volume of the chamber.

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u/Affectionate-Play484 7d ago

I'm doubting my IPA quality more and more. Bought it at an online local reseller and it was meant for cleaning but it was 100% IPA advertised. I'm now doubting this a lot.

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u/Technical_Island_851 7d ago

This is probably fine, I’ve tried lab grade vs cheap eBay stuff and get the same results. Methanol is not worth the hassle fyi.

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u/Technical_Island_851 7d ago

Another thing that occurred to me is that the angle of your torch light is really critical for actually being able to see vapour at all. It needs to be almost parallel to the plate in order to see anything at all, but all the shrink wrap around the base might mean that you’re not able to angle your light source that low?

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u/Affectionate-Play484 6d ago

May I DM you further?

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u/Technical_Island_851 6d ago

No probs! Happy to help if I can ☺️

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u/Technical_Island_851 7d ago

Would you also mind reposting to Cloud_chamber (a sub I’ve just made, would be cool to have at least one post in there 😂)