Where to get a Cloud Chamber

A number of companies sell cloud chambers in the $70-$150 range, or you can find plans for making one yourself. It is not really that hard, once you get the hang of it, but it did take me several days and expert assistance before my home-made one worked. If you don't like frustration, consider a kit.

To find instructions for making your own, search for "cloud chamber plans" or something like that in google. I really don't know which one to recommend, there are as many different ways of making these things as there are people who've built one.

If you want to buy a kit, try one of these:
  • A really, really nice one for about $190 from my favorite nutty science supplier.
  • An economical kit from the venerable Sargent-Welch
  • A similar kit from Science Kit/Boreal
    • In any case you're going to need dry ice and alcohol. Where you get dry ice varies from town to town: In my case it comes from the blood bank. Don't ask me why, but they have a little side business selling block of dry ice to anyone who wants one. Look under dry ice in the yellow pages, or if you know someone at a University they might know where to get some.

    Many instructions for making cloud chambers say that you must use anhydrous (pure, water-free) isopropyl alcohol, which is a bit hard to get. But I have found that hardware store ethanol ("denatured alcohol") works just as well most of the time. (I've also recently discoverd that anhydrous isopropyl alcohol is sold in small bottles in the drug store as a solution for drying out your ears after swimming. I haven't tried making a cloud chamber with it, but this would probably work too.) Alcohol that contains any amount of water will not work, I am told, so Vodka is sadly out.

    Unless you live in a high-radiation area (i.e. Grand Central Station) or have a radon-infested basement, you'll also need a radiation source. Good choices would be the americium button from a smoke detector, a thorium lantern mantel, some old Fiestaware, etc. Look up the elements thorium, uranium, americium, and polonium on my periodic table website (see below) to find common objects containing radioactive elements.

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