DIY: How to turn a fish tank into a particle detector in 5 steps
What can you make with a fish tank, alcohol and dry ice? A spooky punch bowl? A cryogenic chamber? A particle detector? That's right, you can build your own particle detector and study subatomic particles from the comfort of your living room. All you need is 20 minutes.
According to Popular Science: "The DIY version is an empty fish tank with a ceiling of alcohol-soaked felt and a floor of dry ice. The room-temperature alcohol at the top evaporates into the air and sinks toward the ice at the bottom. As it cools, it will condense on anything it can.
Cosmic rays are constantly crashing into Earth from space, and when they hit the atmosphere, they release a shower of particles. If one of these particles zips through the DIY cloud chamber, it will bump into molecules that make up the air and knock off some of their electrons. This leaves a trail of charged ions, and tiny droplets of airborne alcohol cling to them. The ghostly track that results marks an individual particle’s path through the chamber."
To learn more, read "How To Build Your Own Particle Detector" from Popular Science.
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About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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