Physics Project:

Background Radiations and Cloud Chamber

Introduction:

Radiation is energy that travels through space either as high-speed particles or as waves. We
encounter radiation around us all the time. For example, light bulbs radiate visible light; microwaves
radiate waves that cook our food; an x-ray machine emits (or releases) x-rays. Background
radiation is the term used to describe all ionizing radiation that we encounter in our environment on
Earth.  Background radiation is made up of particles or waves in our environment that are so energetic
that they ionize the matter around them, making the matter gain or lose an electron. The particles that
make up the background radiations are: photons, electrons, muons, protons, neutrons, alpha particles,
or neutrinos. All these are tiny particles that, when colliding with an atom, can cause the atom to lose
or gain electrons.

Sources:

There are three primary sources of background radiation: cosmic (from space beyond Earth's
atmosphere), man-made radiation and from the materials on Earth itself. 

Cosmic radiation:
Cosmic radiation is the radiation that Earth is constantly bombarded with from outside the solar
system, in addition to high-energy ion radiation emitted by the Sun during solar flares. This radiation
consists primarily of particles with extremely high energy. They interact in Earth's atmosphere to
create secondary, lower-energy background radiation, some of which travels to Earth's surface.  At
ground level the muons, with energies mostly between 1 and 20 GeV, contribute about 75 % of the
absorbed dose rate in free air. The remainder comes from electrons produced by the muons or present
in the electromagnetic cascade. The annual cosmic ray dose at sea level is around 0.27 mSv (27
mrem). If you live at higher elevations or are a frequent airline passenger, this exposure can be
significantly higher, since the atmosphere is thinner here. The effects of the earth’s magnetic
field also determines the dose from cosmic radiation.

Internal radiation:
On Earth, radioactive material (material that emits ionizing particles) is present all around us. In the
soil, radioactive materials like potassium, uranium, thorium, and radon are present throughout the
world in varying concentrations. Some radioactive materials (such as carbon 14) are present in any
living being as part of the building blocks of life. Human beings have learned to use radioactive
materials in a number of applications (such as in nuclear power plants and in some types of medical
treatments). Radioactive materials send out particles randomly in all directions.

Man-made Sources of Radiation

Since ionizing radiation has many industrial, and medical uses, people can be exposed also to man-
made sources of radiation. Man-made sources include medical uses of radiation, residues from nuclear
tests, industrial uses of radiation, television, and numerous other radiation producing devices. For
example, in some kind of smoke detectors, you can meet man-made radionuclides such as americium-
241. This man-made radionuclide is used to ionize air and to detect smoke.
It must be noted, most of these exposures are very low in intensity and the total dose and does not
posse larger health effects. In each case, usefulness of ionizing radiation must be balanced with its
hazards. Nowadays a compromise was found and most of uses of radiation are optimized. Today it is
almost unbelievable that x-rays was, at one time, used to find the right pair of shoes (i.e. shoe-fitting
fluoroscopy). Measurements made in recent years indicate that the doses to the feet were in the range
0.07 – 0.14 Gy for a 20 second exposure. This practice was halted when the risks of ionizing radiation
were better understood.

In general, the following man-made sources expose the public to radiation:

 Medical Exposures (by far, the most significant man-made source)

 Diagnostic x-rays
 Nuclear medicine procedures
 Consumer Products
 Building and road construction materials
 Smoking cigarettes (polonium-210)
 Combustible fuels, including gas and coal
 X-ray security systems
 Televisions
  Smoke detectors (americium)
 Lantern mantles (thorium)

Cloud chamber:

Scientists build cloud chambers, also known as Wilson chambers, to study background radiation
particles. Much as you would study the wind by looking at the movement of leaves, scientists study
background radiation by looking at tracks in cloud chambers left by the passage of radiation particles.
You cannot see the wind, but you can study its presence, direction, and strength by seeing how the
leaves on trees move. In this science project, you will not "see" the background radiation particles, but
you will show that they exist and study them by observing the tracks they create in your cloud
chamber.

Before we explore how a cloud chamber works, let us review some theory
about vapor and condensation. When we heat a liquid, it converts into a vapor; when we cool a
vapor, it condenses into a liquid. A saturated vapor is a vapor ready to condense. Tiny solid or liquid
particles (like dust or tiny droplets) must be present to produce the transition from vapor to liquid.
Those particles are called condensation nuclei. A supersaturated vapor is ready to condense into a
liquid, but it lacks the condensation nuclei to make that possible.

So where is the link with a cloud chamber? A cloud chamber is nothing more than a sealed
environment containing a supersaturated vapor of water or alcohol. When ionizing particles from
background radiation (like muons or electrons) travel through the chamber, they collide with the
 surrounding molecules, creating ions (charged atoms) along the way. These ions leave a trail of
condensation nuclei, giving the supersaturated vapor something on which to condense. At this stage,
tiny condensation droplets form on ions left by background radiation particles. A bright light will
bounce off the droplets and there you have it — a visible track!

In short, you see droplets of alcohol form on ion trails left by a particle of background radiation
passing through the cloud chamber.

Materials required:

 Two crystal clear plastic or glass container with a mouth. One to be your observation chamber and

another to hold the hot water

 A durable, absorbent material that you can squish into the bottom of the container. E.g.- felt

 Aluminium heat sink

 Aluminium tape

 Double side tape

 Vaseline

 Gel pack
 A bottle of 90+% isopropyl alcohol

 A room, closet, or large box that you can make completely dark for conducting your cloud chamber

observations in

 A very bright flashlight

 Warm water

 A clock, timer, or stopwatch

 Safety glasses and lab apron

 A digital camera or cell phone camera

Procedure:

1. Take your aluminium heat sink and tape the sides with aluminium tape with some extra bit hanging

out.

2. Fill the heat sink with the gel of the gel pack, make sure no air bubbles are present in the model. Then

tape down the extra aluminium tape and seal the sink.

3. Place the sealed heat sink in the freezer and let it cool overnight.

4. Take the two plastic containers and cut off the bottom of one of the containers such that the other

container can fit snugly in the hole.

5. Take some aluminium tape and seal the hole of the first container, adhesive side facing down.

6. Stick the felt on the adhesive side of the aluminium tape.

7. Place some double side tape on the non-adhesive side of the aluminium tape and place the other

container on top. Seal the two containers together with more aluminium tape.

8. Take the heat sink out.

9. Place a bead of Vaseline on the lining of the observation container (the one with the felt) and pour

some isopropyl alcohol on the felt till thoroughly soaked and place on top of the heat sink.

10. Pour hot water (around 70 degrees) into the top container.
11. Turn off all the lights, and shine your flashlight across the bottom of your container through the side.
Observations:

We observe little streaks and lines forming in the mist in our cloud chamber. Those are paths from
ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is high-energy radiation that has enough energy to knock the
electrons off of other atoms it collides with. Ionizing radiation can come from cosmic rays from the
sun, from the argon in our air, and from radioactive materials. Each different path types (e.g., long and
straight, short and straight, long and bent) is caused by a different kind of ionizing radiation. 

When ionizing radiation enters a cloud chamber, it interacts with atoms in the atmosphere — like
hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen–by violently knocking off their electrons. Those atoms turn into
positively charged ions. Chilling the cloud chamber on the heat sink and gel device causes those
gaseous alcohol molecules to crowd so close together that no matter where in the chamber ionizing
radiation strikes, there will be many alcohol molecules ready to stick to the trail of positive ions it
produces. The result is visible trails of condensed alcohol mist wherever ionizing radiation comes into
contact with atoms in the air.

Calculations:

Using a clock or timer, I counted how many streaks of ionizing radiation I saw in my chamber in a
minute. I repeated this count two more times, and calculated an average “ionizing interactions per
minute” for my cloud chamber.

Number of ionizing interactions per

minute:
Minute 1:

5
Minute 2:

8
Minute 3:

Total = 19

Total / 3 = 3.167_____
(Mean interactions/min)