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From: JeffersonLab
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  • Interesting, but if I were to say anything I would be a little less cheery, if a teacher were to show this in a class full of 16 year olds they wouldn't pay attention, other than that, nice work!

  • so freaken cool

  • THAT WAS AWESOME!

  • Where can I buy lead 210?

  • @RyanJohnstify1998 We reference the supplier in the video.

  • What if I have like 170 lbs of pure lead will that work?

  • @lifeisbeautifulbysix As a source? No. Wrong isotope.

  • I wanna do this as a science fair project. How could you create a question for this?

  • @RyanJohnstify1998 Make a wall out of a piece of paper that isolates one part of the chamber from the other. You can demonstrate that the tracks are (largely) created by alpha particles because they won't be able to go through the paper. Tracks will approach the paper and then stop once they reach it. If you happen to get one created by a beta particle, it'll go through the paper and the track will appear to 'cut' through it.

  • Yeah I watch stuff like this cause I'm cool like that.

  • Alright, I'm in the eighth grade...and I'm doing my project on this (reporting on an existing invention). I was wondering, could you explain to me how* this invention would help human life, or does it help anything?

    ~Abby

  • @98abbygail It helped with the understanding of the nature of matter. In practical terms, cloud chambers aren't used in research today. However, you can find direct descendants of cloud chambers in some smoke detectors.

  • What happens to people if we get too radioactive?

  • @TheKingOfBeagles Too much exposure to radiation will kill you. But, you really have to work hard to get that kind of exposure.

  • @TheKingOfBeagles Their fingernails and hair will fall out. Then they'll die.

  • Wait, so our breath is radioactive!?!?

  • @Taytayhouser A little bit, sure. When you exhale, there's some carbon dioxide in your breath. Some of the carbon in the carbon dioxide is carbon-14, which is radioactive.

  • Lol me 2...........

  • These are SO corny.

    But I love them so.

    WHAT IS THIS SORCERY!?

  • Also, I just bought my Lead210 from a vendor, but when I'm does can I just throw it out? Or should I keep it?

  • @shoemakerleve9 I'd keep it. Or, contact the vendor and ask how they recommend disposing of it.

  • Thought you were joking when you said radioactive stuff O_O

  • Where can you find a petri dish?

    Oh and also where can you find the sticky back felt?

  • @masqmoose33xoxo Any science supply shop should carry Petri dishes. Might be difficult to just buy one, though. Your Biology or Chemistry teachers might have one that they'll give to you, so I'd check with them first. The felt can be found in hardware stores or stores such as Walmart.

  • ... Can you drink it? :D

  • @TakingAndChanging No.......

  • Radioactive stuff are dangerous... GREAT! Now teach us how to make a mini nuclear reactor!

  • Hmm, If those rays are alpha and beta rays, then what do gamma rays look like in a cloud chamber?

  • @DemonHunter2k7 You can't see gamma rays is a cloud chamber. They are uncharged and don't create an ion trail. The best you can do is see the trails from recoil electrons caused by the scattering of the gamma rays off of individual atoms/molecules. The track of the recoil electron does not tell you the path of the incident gamma ray.

  • can you drink liquid nitrogen?

  • @makiboy2000 You can drink whatever you like. That doesn't mean that you should.

  • where could i get dry ice i dont think your allowed to buy it in scotland maybe you may know more

  • @lethalmuffingamember Over here, some grocery stores sell it. I recommend that you call grocery stores around you to see if they carry it. Also try fish markets. Sometimes, dry ice is used to keep fish fresh. Try camping suppliers, too. Good luck!

  • I'm just asking? Can you freeze a marshmallow on camera and make that as like a short!!!!! I saw bill bye eat one and it looked so cool

  • Great video!

    I have got Isopropyl alcohol (video head cleaning liquid) but there is not any word about percentage.

    Would be this kind of alcohol be usefull for cloud chamber?

    Happy New year !!!

  • @crnazvijezda You can give it a shot, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't work very well.

  • Lol, oooh, ahhh, you guys are so funny :) Most of your vids are about liquid nitrogen, why?

  • @4775327 Because we have a lot of it around the Lab, it's easy for us to get it and because it's neat!

  • HOw to get/make Dry ice?

  • @InzaneMachine We get ours from a nearby grocery store.

  • Wicked cool!

  • So, we've all seen the "gummy bear in potassium chlorate" thing... I think you guys should do the worlds largest gummy bear in potassium chlorate. Pretty sure they're like 26 dollars... You should do it :O

  • hey, that's one really nice episode right there! I knew the effects of liquid nitrogen fairly well but was entertained by your show anyways - but this was something I'd acually never seen before save in a school book - and we all know, moving pictures say more than nonmoving pictures <3

  • @JeffersonLab Would it work with salt+ice? You can get only -24 ºC, but the important thing is the temperature gradient. Maybe heating the top of the recipient with hot water or similar, and cooling the bottom with salt+ice. What do you think? Thx for your oppinion. What a nice experiment that can be built at home.

    Sorry about my english :P

  • @kirkhammet669 Actually, the gradient isn't all that important. You need a temperature that's cold enough for the alcohol vapors to condense onto the ion trails. I don't think -24 ˚C will cut it.

  • @JeffersonLab Thx a lot! I'm trying it!

  • With this set-up would you be able to see ambiental radiation? (mostly from radon alpha decay?)

    By the way, great video!

  • @kirkhammet669 Yes, it'll pick-up background radiation. You'd do better with something with a larger volume, though.

  • @kirkhammet669 /watch?v=bS116CFYu9I northern europes largest cloud chamber

  • u guys r rly wierd

  • Put a magnet under the dish!

  • @funkgerat We actually tried before doing the math. Turns out we'd need a 2 T field over the whole region to deflect the alphas enough to be obvious. We're planning on testing out a chamber fitted with a coil using one of our stronger beta sources. It'll be much easier to deflect but, unfortunately, betas don't show up as well.

  • can i use kryptonite in there? i bet it'll be jawdropping.. literally!

  • @uniphobia If it were a real element... sure!

  • @JeffersonLab make it!

  • @JeffersonLab hey...can you make an acid cloud? not to hurt anyone just is it possible?

  • @nolifeguy1 I'm sure it's possible. Just need to get the vapors of an acid cold enough to condense into droplets. Just like making fog, but with an acid rather than with water.

  • what happens if you touch the radiactive tip?

  • @AwesomeMrCheese Some of the radioactive material can transfer from the needle to whatever touched it.

  • Um... aren't we ourselves, "technically" is radioactive?

  • @jasleil Yes, people are naturally radioactive. Potassium, calcium and iodine are some of the common elements that have radioactive isotopes that we happily ingest and incorporate within our bodies.

  • WARNING: DO NOT ingest any of the radioactive source. It was Polonium 210 that killed Alexander Litvinenko in London.

  • @Neutrinoghost Probably a fair bit more than that!

  • @p3rs0n42 I remember, at the time, someone did the calculations to see how many of these needle sources they'd have to order in order to have enough material to pull off an equivalent poisoning. It's came out to something like 15,000 needle sources. So, yes, the danger of one needle source is rather minimal.

  • @JeffersonLab Aah right! Didn't know that! Thank you for proving my point! :P

    Nice experiment by the way! This kind of stuff has always fascinated me, it's just a shame I didn't pay attention in school! haha

  • @Neutrinoghost

    Thank god I read your warning in time. I just cooked a polonium pizza in microwave radiation and was going to wash it down with a protactinium protein shake.

  • last year in 7th grade on the day before winter break we were playing with dry ice and i notice you can handle at least a tiny piece for about 3-5 seconds until it feels like it's burning you because it's so cold. A lot of people kept forgetting. there was an ow every 10 minutes.

  • Any sort of radiation source? Could I crack open a smoke detector to get the ionizer out of it to use? Also, would ethyl alcohol work? I can get my hands on everclear much easier than 90 pure ISO.

  • @Mostlyharmless1985 It works best with alpha sources. Betas will show up, but they aren't as obvious as alpha tracks. While you can physically remove the source from a smoke detector, I don't think you can legally remove the source.

    Ethyl alcohol works. We've used it before. It's a greater fire hazard due to it's lower flash point which is why we normally opt for isopropanol. Again, the purer, the better.

  • Alright thanks!

  • Is this a one time thing? How long would the effect last? Would you have to make a new cloud chamber? Thanks alot! :)

  • @PolarSn0w The effect lasts for several minutes. Tracks eventually stop forming when the chamber becomes too cold. No need to build a new chamber when that happens. Just let it warm back up and it's good to go again.

  • @JeffersonLab Okay thanks, so I just take it off the dry ice? And does it have to be completely dark? I'm trying to conduct this experiment in a large bright gym, and was thinking of creating some shade or something..

  • @PolarSn0w Take it off the dry ice and, if you can, put it on a chunk of metal or hold it in your hands to help it warm faster. We used two chambers during filming and would warm one while we filmed the other. Doing this in a brightly lit room isn't great. You could flip a box upside down, cut a panel out of it and use that as a 4-sided shield (top, front, right and left). Paint the inside black... Could even put a little curtain over the open side. Lighting the chamber is also important...

  • @PolarSn0w ...We typically had the flashlight about 90 degrees off from the camera's viewing direction and angled at about 30 degrees from the horizontal. One thing we had trouble with was the top of the chamber fogging over. During filming, we had a heat gun directing warm air over the top of the chamber to help prevent this. As it was, it only gave us about 5 minutes before fogging became apparent.

  • nice experiment...thanks for share it...:-)

  • So how would you make one the captured background radiation only? That would be neat to see too.

  • @rlsroyce The same way, just don't use a source. You'll want to make the chamber as wide and as deep as possible. Making it a little taller won't hurt, but the 'active' zone will only be so thick if you are passively cooling it with dry ice.

  • This is so cool! Thank you for that!

  • What would happen if someone did touch the tip?

  • @flowercowable Potentially, some of the radioactive material would be transferred to their finger. If they were to then touch other things, some of the radioactive material could then be transferred to those things. If someone else were to then touch those things, some of the radioactive material could be transferred to them and so on...

  • @RandomDyslexic A cloud chamber is a device used to detect the decay of radioactive particles. If the whole thing were cloudy, it wouldn't work. The little streaky clouds is what a cloud chamber is suppose to have. Good luck with your continued search for a non-boot leg cloud!

  • @RandomDyslexic Well... this is a science channel. I mean, we only have 'Lab' in our name. Not sure why you were expecting something different.

  • How cold does the chamber need to be? I have a cooling element that gets to negative 60 degrees celsius; will that work instead of dry ice?

  • @zach49899 Dry ice sublimates near -80˚C. If you can get the chamber down to -60˚C, I'd be strongly tempted to say 'close enough.'

  • @ROBLOXlikelegos That is for camping cookers.

  • @ROBLOXlikelegos The alcohol is clear, so, no.

  • no u can buy that from a hardware store lol u fail i bought 99.5 from a regular hard ware FAIL!!

  • Should be able to find 95+ percent iso in the form of some kinds of dry gas. Usually have the prefix "ISO" in the name. Other kinds available are methanol and ethanol containing dry gas which is more common (could also work? Never tried.) Thanks for sharing - wish the "Chem Trail" community would pay attention in school more like this :)

  • Who was your science teacher o_o

  • @1rich14 We've had a whole bunch of them!

  • @JeffersonLab o_o smart people :D

  • English?

  • @shadowflare2255 That's as English as we can get it. If you are confused about something in particular, please elaborate.

  • @JeffersonLab Hahaha i lost you guys after 2:27 Lol Nice video, i enjoyed it. :)

  • 0,0 if i were to try to buy the alcohol from a scientific catalog would i have to have a degree in chemistry and or some kind of science?

  • @ruffles2010 No. If the stuff is dangerous enough, they may check the address to make sure it's going to a school or business and not to some random house or apartment. Isopropanol really shouldn't be an issue. Worse comes to worse, you might have to have your local pharmacy order it for you.

  • That was brilliant!

    What about placing a strong magnet below the petri dish (with the field pointing upwards)?

  • @Elune137 Turns out you need an impossibly strong field to deflect the alphas enough to notice that they've been deflected. To get them to have the same curvature as our chamber, for example, we'd need a field on the order of 4 T. We'd have much better luck with betas, but betas don't leave tracks that are nearly as nice. We have plans to borrow a beta source from out RadCon group and give it a try. We just haven't gotten that far yet.

  • I think if I bought all those chemicals I'd either get the DEA or bomb squad in my house pretty soon.

  • @sharperguy No, not really. There's not really a whole lot you can do with isopropanol, dry ice and a commercially available, unregulated source that the DEA would care about.

  • what if i accidentally touch the needle containing the radioactive material?

  • @keyvleon The radioactive material is only at the end of the needle. The sources also only contain a very small amount of radioactive material, which is why these sources can be bought by the general public. If you were to scrape or rub the end of the needle on something, it's entirely possible that some of the radioactive material could be transferred to the other object. That's why we say that these things aren't toys. Treat them right, and it isn't an issue.

  • or buy a pelltier :)

  • Thanks for the vid !!!!

  • 1:17 haha what he man does hahahaha

  • this will still work if i use something larger than a petri dish right?

  • @ifuzzy1 Sure. You may not get the conditions right for it to work throughout the whole device at one time, but there's no real harm in making it larger. In fact, if you don't have a source and have to depend on cosmic rays, you want it to be larger.

  • Ooh! Ahh! Oh my ? Lol :). ... I live in the uk and I don't know anywhere that sells dry ice . Can you help ?

  • @inventorlewis Try a fish market or a grocery store.

  • @inventorlewis Alternatively do you know how to use a Peltier (thermoelectric) module? Got one myself and they can go pretty cold when used correctly.

  • how long must it sit on the dry ice before trails are visible?

  • @otterhigginbotham It depends. During this filming, we had visible trails within 15 seconds. It's not always that quick, though.

  • @JeffersonLab thats odd it took me around 10 minutes

    what angle are you holding your flashlight at? it isnt clear in the video

  • @otterhigginbotham The camera is more or less pointing straight down. The flashlight is immediately to the left of the chamber and angled down at about a 60˚ angle. The trails were evident under regular room lighting, although the flashlight helped.

  • @JeffersonLab does a glass petri dish work better than a plastic?

  • @otterhigginbotham A plastic Petri dish, like we used, should cool down faster. Other than that, I doubt it makes much of a difference.

  • Will Americium from my smoke detector work as a radiation source?

  • @wiredforsound760 It'll work in so far as it's an alpha source. I'm just not sure if it's legal to remove it from the smoke detector. The Am-241 source is regulated by the the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Specifically, the regulatory requirements are given in Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 30. It's just as easy to buy a source that's intended for this sort of thing.

  • What part does the alcohol play in this process?

  • @TMadness2 It's what the clouds are made from. Just like water vapor, cold air holds less alcohol vapor than warm air does. Cooling the chamber with the dry ice causes a supersaturated layer to form. Ions created by the passage of decay products triggers cloud formation.

  • strange , i am sure i already see this video before .

  • @hitachi088 You've probably seen 80% of it. The particle track footage was reshot to eliminate bad flashlight work and audio track rerecorded to eliminate a mispronunciation. Since we can't just swap one video for another, we had to post this one as if it were new.

  • Does this have anything to do with antimatter? I recall seeing something very similar in Stephen Hawking's Universe.

  • @Rocky183 This is particular? Not really. Although some modes of radioactive decay do result in positron (antielectron) production.

  • Ooo, fascinating stuff. :D Half of it may be over my head, but hey, science is nifty.

  • This is the best cloud chamber tutorial I have seen. ^_^

    Could one produce purer isopropanol by mixing store-grade (70-91%) with salt? Mix it together until no more will dissolve, shake vigorously & repeat until it separates into 2 liquid layers? I think that's how the procedure goes if I recall right, but never tried it myself!

  • @AScannerClearly I really don't know. Maybe a chemist who happens by can answer this for us.

  • Neat! One of these days I'd like to try that myself.  Thanks.

  • hello love your vids please make more dont stop.

  • @jimmyxrl823 Oh, we're going to make more. It's just hard to find the time right now. There are 6 in various stages of development right now. One might be out in a week since it's coming from previously shot footage and one has a hard deadline of late December. We're doing our best to work around our other commitments.

  • Huh?

  • @LBTennis Huh, what? Use a few more of the 500 characters that YouTube gives you to more fully express yourself.

  • @LBTennis 'K

  • didn't you already make this video?

  • @spotlightman1234 Yes, but we had originally mispronounced polonium and the footage of the tracks in the chamber wasn't so great since we were fishing around for the correct flashlight angle while filming. We did those sections over and, since we can't just replace the old video, had to upload this one as if it were new.

  • lol i have 99 % at the dollar store

  • Make more videos more often lol

  • @migueldELLO Wish we could, but there are times when we are very busy with other things. Unfortunately, we're in the middle of one of those times. More videos are coming, it just may take a while.

  • Thanks for uploading.  That was really interesting!

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