{"id":608,"date":"2020-03-08T04:09:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T04:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/?page_id=608"},"modified":"2020-03-21T15:13:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T19:13:57","slug":"jays-alpha-spark-detector","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/npl-home\/experiments\/jays-alpha-spark-detector\/","title":{"rendered":"Alpha Spark Detector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Jay<\/em> Howson
Date: September-2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Concept of an Alpha Spark Detector is simple; High voltage is applied between a thin wire or mesh grid and and parallel ground plane a few mm below it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The voltage is set such that a breakdown does not occur. However, if an alpha particle ionizes the air between the grid and ground plane.
(an alpha particle will leave a trail of ionized particles as it collides with air molecules and sheds energy until coming to rest)<\/em>
A break down (spark) will occur where that ionization took place, and only where the ionization took place. Giving a quality visual indicator that an alpha particle was present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alpha induced breakdown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I find the device to be a very useful tool for demonstrating how far alpha particles can travel in air, and how they are easily stopped by thin materials like kitchen plastic wrap. I regularly use it to perform demos for kids, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Alpha emitter is a 0.8uCi Am-241 source taken from a standard smoke detector and glued into a threaded brass holder. The threads allow me to use the brass as a collimator, producing either a narrow or board beam of alpha particles. Also gives me a nice rod to hold onto while offered ideal protection from accidental contact. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
I 3D printed a cap to cover the detector (keeping the wires safe) which also doubles as a storage pocket for the alpha source. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
All the Electronics mount inside the wooden base on a recessed aluminium plate. input power is 2A 12V DC. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Jay HowsonDate: September-2018 The Concept of an Alpha Spark Detector is simple; High voltage is applied between a thin wire or mesh grid and and parallel ground plane a few mm below it. The voltage is set such that a breakdown does not occur. However, if an alpha particle ionizes the air between…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611,"parent":545,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced-sidebar-menu\/link-title":"","advanced-sidebar-menu\/exclude-page":false},"categories":[38,34,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/608"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/608\/revisions\/2669"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nuclearphysicslab.com\/npl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}