Cloud Chamber

[James Abshier]

Hi Dave and Andy,

The peanut butter jar cloud chamber was built in 1957 - a long time ago. All that I have left of it is the poor quality photo image that I posted. The design for the cloud chamber was given in the Amateur Scientist section of Scientific American magazine back then. A book was published in 1960 containing a collection of these articles entitled "The Amateur Scientist", by C.L. Strong. Design of the cloud chamber that I built as well as other designs appear in this book. I discovered that copies of this book are still available, but perhaps better yet the book is available free at:

Projects for the Amateur Scientist Scientific American : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

I don't remember much about how well the cloud chamber worked, but I do know that it would show tracks. Success was pretty certain because radioactive material was placed in the chamber. If someone wanted to build it today, some design modifications would be needed. Skippy peanut butter now comes in plastic rather than glass jars. Perhaps salsa jars could be used. And I don't know where one might get the litharge that was use as a sealant :>).

Jim Abshier

 

[bsn...@gmail.com]

Talk about a "blast from the past"! I subscribed to S.A. for many years. About 20 years ago, my wife asked, "Do you REALLY want to keep them all?" I've saved a select few.

Martin Gardner may have taught me more science than all the schools I attended.

Anyway...Cloud Chamber...I too built one, obtain the dry ice to make the cloud...then the question, "What was I going to observed?" My mother, a teacher, usually financed my projects asked, "What did I need?" When I said something radioactive she went silent...A day or so later she says, "Your father had and we still have an altimeter from a German fighter. I think they used radium in the dials for nighttime." So I scavenged a piece....many days later a few faint traces were seen!!

The true joys of doing science....thanks for the memories....bill....

[Ronald Fleshman]

Interesting,  I have built many over the years.  I wish I had taken pictures.  Canning jars, peanut butter jars, small aquariums some home made chambers,  some with magnetic or electric fields.  Dry ice, expansion types and peltier coolers all with some degree of success.  

No trees were destroyed in the sending of this contaminant- free message. However, we do concede a significant number of electrons may have been inconvenienced.

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[Mike Otte]

A highschool teacher/mentor, Mrs. Miller, put me on to Scientific American and my first look was always the Amateur Scientist. I was a builder.  I love making stuff out of scrap. Project success was low but I got better.  Never did build the cloud chamber but did see one working at UofI Champaign. 

Back then SA had real science articles.   

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Mike Otte W9YS

[dave bracey]

Hi Jim,

Thank you for the link to the Scientific American articles. What an amazing resource. I've downloaded the whole thing and now have many hours of reading ahead. Although its a long time ago now I think that these may have been, or at least formed the basis of other articles I remember, many of which inspired the projects of my teenage years  - most of which failed btw but hey ho - happy days..

Thank you so much!

Dave

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[Andrew Thornett]

Yes thanks Jim - I've also managed to download it.

Andy

Sent from Outlook for Android

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From: 'dave bracey' via Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2026 8:56:53 PM
To: 'James Abshier' via Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers <sara...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SARA] Cloud Chamber

 

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