Amateur Particle Physics Experiments/Demonstrations

[redherring]

Hello, I am a amateur-level person living in Canada with an interest in physics, especially particle physics. I have recently been wondering how possible it would be to create some simple/cheap devices to exhibit particle physics. I thought a cloud chamber would be the most feasible idea and quickly found this youtube video:



This seems great and i would love to do this myself if i can get an exempt radioisotope source as cheaply as they did.

Does anyone else out there have other ideas of experiments i could perform along these lines (it really doesn't have to be nuclear decay, i am interested in anything i can perform with what a citizen has access to and is reasonably cheap)?

Also, can anyone out there suggest some great websites/e-stores where i can purchase different supplies related to the types of experiments i would be interested in, especially Canadian ones (to reduce shipping costs)?

Thanks to all who read this post.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

Well, Canada is the largest supplier of radioisotopes.

 

[Vanadium 50]

A small piece of a thorium lantern mantle makes a decent radioactive source. Or you could pick up some orange Fiestaware porcelain at a flea market if you can find it.

 

[bcrowell]

Sounds like you're really talking about nuclear physics, not particle physics...?

Cloud chambers can be used to detect cosmic rays, but you'd probably still want an artificial source for testing.

With a gamma source and a GM counter, you could try measuring Compton scattering at different angles.

Microcurie sources are easy to obtain by mail: http://sargentwelch.com/calibrated-radioactive-sources-calibrated-radioactive-source/p/IG0039282/

If you want to play with something with a short half-life, you can get sources that separate out a short-lived daughter isotope by elution: http://store.pasco.com/pascostore/showdetl.cfm?&DID=9&Product_ID=50475&Detail=1