You're Swimming in Radiation... And you don't even know it! 

I used to fix old 747 inertial navigation systems. One model had upgraded the magnetic core memory to RAM. It used to come in occasionally with a single bit error in the program. The official explanation was the bit in RAM had been hit by a cosmic ray at altitude & was flipped. The fix was to reload, test & send it out again. It never happened on the ground. That 10km of atmosphere stops _that many_ of the particles. Hardening computers for spaceflight is _important._

Made the suggestion a long time ago when y'all asked for video suggestions. Most videos on cloud chambers are very vague on how to make them and I knew y'all could perfect it and be very detailed on the build process. So glad y'all finally got to making one!

Incredible. I teach hazardous materials to first responders, and this video will absolutely be part of the radiation chapter from now on!

I didn't become extremely interested in radiation until my early 20's, and as a visual learner, radiation was a very mysterious thing to me, as the field is mostly comprised of looking only at math. However, the first time I saw a cloud chamber was a Eureka moment for me, and the experience spurred a decade of learning and studying all forms of radiation. I honestly think a cloud chamber should be in every middle school and high school science class, and I'd highly encourage if any science teachers/professors are watching this and do not have a cloud chamber, build this, and put it in your classroom, because you WILL inspire minds.

As a physicist I've been around many physics demonstrations. I think your cloud chamber is one of the best I have seen. I detect radiation almost daily for work but at this point, it is just a number on a screen, a curve to be calibrated, and spectra that needs to be reduced. These demonstrations are not just exciting for kids, but remind me at least, why I got into science in the first place. I can stare at the chamber for hours trying to see a pattern. Then maybe I'd ruin it by creating a model in GEANT4 that boils it all down to a pretty graphic with billions of multi-colored simulated tracks by throwing billions and billions of pretend particles. I think a good video would be to provide a tour of your workspaces and discuss some of your background (you and your boys).

You're like Mr. Wizard for big kids. Thanks for all you do man.

I started watching this. When my partner asked what you were building, then "Why would anybody want to?" I said, "Just wait." When the first pictures of the contrails came, I heard a whisper "Oh, beautiful." Thank You, for making our day more beautiful.

I have to say, this might be one of the coolest experiments you have done yet. Absolutely AWESOME when you can see the sub atomic world with the naked eye!

I could listen to his encyclopedic knowledge all day.

Cosmic rays are absolutely stunning. Incomprehensibly huge events in our universe, absurdly far in distance and time, die before our eyes in such ephemeral flashes. Imagine a packet of energy being generated before the dinosaurs walked the earth with a precise direction and target: the vapour that you distilled from your garden potatoes... thanks Tech Ingredients!

There must be hundreds of cloud chamber videos on RU-vid. This is the only one that shows how it should be done. Very impressive build, and of course a great result. Congrats and many thanks!

Man best cloud chamber ever, at least of those I've seen. I love how you go about your projects with every intent to get the best possible results with the constraints you have. Be it physical, size or budget you strife to get the best bang for the buck. Your "little" chamber beats a lot of school, science fair and even museum versions.

I'd love a video of just a fixed angle shot of the empty chamber, running multiple hours

I'm so thankful our world has people this smart to share knowledge that the majority of us would never know.thank you

This is my most valued you tube subscription. Thank you for these extremely understandable high tech explanations.

This was a WONDERFUL video. I loved it! I’m subbing!

I’ve been thinking about building a cloud chamber for years. I’m glad I waited. THIS is how to build one. You just keep getting better and better with each new video. Thanks!

Please place this machine, with no sample, on a field, during a cloudless night. Just record 2-3 hours of that cosmic ray trails. Amazing stuff !

As a 74 year old I remember well a cloud chamber in nuclear physics at school. The chamber was very tiny but then we had access to nuclear materials that probably now would be illegal, at least here in Australia. They showed alpha, beta and gamma radiation although the area was too small and too dull to show ambient radioactivity. This was before we knew about the really tiny sub atomic particles like quarks, positrons and neutrinos etc so who knows what we were really seeing! I loved your vivid demonstration of the solar radiation. I wonder how much ambient radiation is still hanging around from the results of nuclear tests. We had lots in the deserts in central Australia before aerial explosions were banned and whilst the fallout is not dangerous far away from the test sites, there was so much fallout at the time of long half-life products that we must be still able to detect some even now. I would love to see:- * the difference between ambient daytime radiation and night time radiation, *A demonstration of the effects of magnetism, especially if an electromagnet was introduced that could swap polarity *see if everyday objects (like bananas) that are said to have radioactive material (like Potassium) showed up detectable activity. On second thoughts perhaps hold that last one since it might frighten everyone off bananas and kill our banana industry!

Best cloud chamber demo ever! A friend of mine is a health physicist and I asked him what if we blocked background radiation inside our houses and he said in animal studies animals not exposed to background radiation do not live as long.

Utterly brilliant and absolutely mesmerising. Thank you for such an entertaining and informative video. Those images of cosmic ray interactions were the best I've ever seen.

this channel never disappoints in exploring interesting, detailed and technical subjects. Thorium is all over the place, especially in monazite sands (beach sand).

I love seeing your son in the frame doing his thang! It adds authenticity to the most authentic thing on earth ... thanks for kicking so much ass !

not only do have an extraordinary expertise but your voice while explaining these things is also very soothing. its a joy every single time

I've seen one of these cloud chambers before at a physics demonstration at my university, they're super cool. While I won't be uilding a cloud chamber, I found the techniques regarding the LEDs, thermal stuff and construction of the chamber very useful! Thanks for another fantastic episode, and a very entertaining one.

I would love to see just a long recording of one of these. Seems strangely relaxing

I've just re-watched this video after a year or so.. it still amazes me so much, especially the part about cosmic rays at the end gives me a comfortable feeling about the fact that we are all just stardust. Very well done! I love this channel.

TI, show us the cloud chamber with the high voltage electrodes in it as you described. I'd like to see how the early scientists discovered mass, etc. using a cloud chamber. Fascinating, and I passed the video to my colleagues.

DUDE. The empty tank display is incredible! I've never actually seen a demonstration of that before. Thanks as always for posting, I really enjoy the cool stuff you guys do!

I personally loved the rocket motor series the best, but this was the bees knees! I really appreciate it, you're as engaging and informative as my physics professor, and Sharaz is one of the all time best!

Thanks TI. It's almost 50 years since I last saw a cloud chamber. And, indeed, it had an electromagnet, to show data about the particles we could observe. The chamber was in a basement, inside a metal- and wax-lined room, to give some measure of screening from 'background' radiation. Old luminous watches are interesting, as well as somewhat concerning, because of the radium, and various radioactive contaminants, which were used in the paint. My father had an ex-RAF watch, from the 1940's, which could overload a Geiger counter at about 30 cm away from the detector.

I did this experiment when I was about 14,15 YO.... that's over 40 years ago. My setup was a bit more ramshackle , as many of the modern materials were just not available to a teenager back then. It was great seeing this, it brought back happy memories ! (I got Strontium out of the neck of an old CRT tube, low grade Polonium could be found in lens-brushes for cameras ) Thanks for this video

He's finally going to show us how to build a tokamak. Yes!!!

It would be useful if someone built a permanent cloud chamber installation and streamed the video, so that cosmic rays could be displayed and analysed frame-by-frame. A strong neodymium magnet could be used to reveal the charge on the particles. It would be interesting to watch during the coming solar maximum. That would be a very useful educational tool. Link it to a local Geiger Counter Reading of background radiation

I'm 68 and I treat every day as a learning day and today I've had one of the best science lessons ever, keep them coming please.

I have and engineering degree, but just yesterday I was telling my wife that we are taught so much science that we can't see, but that we accept or even routinely use. And, I was marveling over the fact that people figured out much of this one-hundred or more years ago lacking the equipment we commonly have available today. As an example, I mentioned that we can't see atoms, yet we have a periodic table of elements. We can't see molecules, but we have models of molecules made of chains of elements arranged in a particular order. And, we can't see electrons, magnetic or RF fields, or even gravity, but in engineering we work with those daily. I marvel that mathematicians figured out what a sin curve looks like centuries before the development of the oscilloscope and the cathode ray tube to display it. We truly stand on the shoulders of giants in our everyday life. Most people are completely ignorant that and what it means when they invoke, "go to the science." Sorry for the long screed, and thank you for a video that at least partly answers the thoughts I was having.

Wow! This is the clearest cloud chamber demonstration I’ve ever seen! Absolutely beautiful work and results

You should demonstrate the radioactivity of a banana! ~0.1μSv. Very educational as usual. I love that it's possible to visualize radiation this way. Thank you for demonstrating.

I was a little hesitant to click, because of the title. I know that gazillions of particles pass through my body every second, e.g. neutrinos. I guess most of the viewers of this channel know that they are "swimming" in radiation. Also they know what a cloud chamber is. But I like that you made actually one yourself and described it in high detail, so everyone could build one. Maybe a little more info on the heaters of the alcohol at the top would be nice. Maybe I missed it. Conclusion: Very good video. No hype, no drama, no nonsense. I really appreciate this calm presentation, focused on facts and some suggestions on how to do things. Thank you.

A year or two ago, I built one out of a peanut butter jar. I inverted the jar to use it. The metal lid sat on the dry ice. I cut the bottom out of the jar and used some glass over that to make a nice viewing window. Inside, I set up a high voltage electric field between the metal lid (now the bottom of the chamber) and a wire loop slightly smaller diameter than the jar, placed inside just below my glass "top". I found this helped immensely to control the clutter left over after the particle "events". I noticed you didnt use such an electric "sweep field". Also, i was able to sufficiently warm the top of the chamber by resting the palm of my hand on it for a few minutes to start the alcohol evaporating. I want to build another one with better lighting and a small electric heater to better control the temperature gradient. I have thought for some time some nice green LEDS would be much nicer than the flashlight I was using to illuminate the chamber. I also want to do a proper insulated box like you did for the base of the chamber. What wattage would I want for my heater on a small chamber like this? What wattage did you run on yours? How would one calculate the heater wattage needed for a given volume chamber? Thank you for a really cool video!

Congrats on another superb demonstration and explanation - just fascinating. :) Thank you.

Fantastic video! Just really one of your best videos yet! As usual, you cover both the construction of the project, as well as the science being demonstrated, in exquisite, but clearly explained, detail. As a radiologist, I think a really cool source for your cloud chamber would be a sample of F-18 FDG, the bread and butter tracer used in PET imaging. It is a pure positron ("anti-electron") emitter, so you should be able to demonstrate positron/electron annihilation events, each generating two 511 KeV photons, traveling precisely 180 degrees from one another (dictated by quantum mechanics). In other words, matter/antimatter collision events. F-18, unfortunately has a half life of just under 2 hours, so you have to be pretty close to a supplier (assuming you haven’t built your own cyclotron yet; say….there’s an idea for a project!) I have to admit I have no idea what a single dose of FDG costs; it’s probably several hundred dollars. Regardless, thanks again for another outstanding video. Yours is one of the greatest science education RU-vid channels. Can’t wait for the next!

Have you ever considered recreating some of the popular projects on here? The reason I ask is because I really enjoy how you explain things, your detailed knowledge of everything you do is worth paying attention to. A example of what I’d like to see is maybe one of those hot foam cutters based on nicrome wire and a simple circuit. Most content creators focus on the construction of the unit but don’t adequately explain the electrical in a satisfactory manner. This might lead to people doing something wrong with dangerous amounts of current flowing at their fingertips. This is just a suggestion to consider if you even see the comment. The comment itself is to help with exposure. Have a great day.

Best one yet, my favorite. You mentioned using silicone RTV, I’m wondering if you’ve ever added corn starch to RTV to accelerate the cure? Thanks for all the fascinating and educational episodes. I’m a former USAF Missile Tech (IYAAYAS) and now own 1/3 of Guardian Financial Systems, a bank equipment company. When the vault won’t open in the morning, they call me. Other interests are model rockets, home brewing and distilling, target shooting, ballistics and Ammo reloading, guitar and vintage Hammond Organ. Check out the Hammond Tone generator to see how they got all those tones from a purely mechanical device. Love the channel.

Great video, quite mesmerising to watch, especially the cosmic ray section. Just one thing, you referenced an umbrella shot to the leg which, if my memory is correct, was actually ricin, not polonium. The polonium was apparently possibly administered by teapot!

This classifies as one of your best demonstrations you have produced. BRAVO / ZULU to your channel. Respectfully, Dennis, KV4WM, A US Navy Nuclear Submarine Veteran and Licensed Amateur Radio Operator.

You are the Most Completed Teacher/Master/Mentor/Engineer ... On the net. Thank You for another enlighting video... Have a nice day Sir

Actually a really cool demo! Love that we could actually visualise the cosmic radiation at surface level!!

Amazing experiment, I love this demonstration. Thanks to all of you of Tech Ingredients.

I worked as a quality control technician at a color photo lab while attending college back in the 70's. We developed mostly large format color film (think 120mm) shot mostly by wedding photographers. Most of the business was printing the results of those negatives on to Kodak (aka the yellow father's) photographic paper sold in rolls. Everything in the entire process was very carefully monitored from the building humidity levels, color chemistry conditions, the high-end automated printers (for the time period) were always drifting. (We had to maintain them within +/- 3CC) The drifting was due to the vacuum tube thyratron tubes weakening, or the 6 photo-multiplier tubes aging in each printer and the halogen light sources drifting. All of this and more had to be maintained to the quality levels expected by pro photographers of the day. Dust was a constant problem, because it could land on negatives, accumulate on printer lenses, cutoff filters, light chambers, Etc. So the company had these little camel hair brushes all over the lab that had little cartridges with polonium inside. They also had compressed air blow guns that had radioactive cartridges as well. The compressed air was filtered down to 5 microns. The polonium created an ionized area of air underneath the brushes that neutralized any electrical charges on the film that were holding dust particles in place. I think the blow guns were leased by 3M back in the day. They had a special division that leased anti-static devices. The film was already developed and dry when printed, so the radiation did not fog the film. These polonium cartridges had expiration dates printed on them. Part of my job in QC was to swap them out whenever they expired or stopped working. The manufacturer was very particular in that you had to send all expired cartridges back to them first, before you could lease another replacement. The leases as I recall were good for around 6-12 months. It became such an inconvenience to track all these little radiation sources that the lab looked into HV ionizing devices to accomplish the same tasks. Although more expensive, they were cheaper to use and maintain in the long haul.

INCREDIBLE! I love all of your works. Future video idea: ...............Acoustic Levitation........... Controlled, adjustable standing waves. Nanobot manipulation.

Awesome video, nobody could've done it better! I cannot adequately express my appreciation & admiration for the raw passion, serious effort, and distilled efficient genius that is on display in every video you've shared on this channel. Bravo, good sir, Bravo!

Brilliant project!!! And such an enjoyable description, explanation and demonstration of subatomic particles. This is going on the list of my favorite videos from Tech Ingredients! Cool-factor of 10! 👍

i was at a museum in amsterdam (NEMO) and after a hearty Amsterdam breakfast i was intensely moved and mesmerised by the cloud chamber there. thanks for doing this. they are amazing things

If you put magnets in the chamber, would you see the alpha and beta particles curve near them?

WOW! Such a cool effect. I've never seen a could chamber before and now I want to build one.

What a coincidence - today I was just talking to a couple of people about muons (believe me I know little) and the presumed examples of alternations they have made to computer memory bits, maybe DNA, etc, and the extent of protections that chip manufacturers indulge in to prevent damage to their products. Then, up pops this, your latest piece. Of course, I learn not just about cloud chambers, but also all the attendant bits and pieces. Love your work gentlemen.

I have absolutely nothing to do with all these and still enjoyed watching and understood most of it because you have such a good way of explaining things. Teachers should watch your videos and take notes on teaching. Bravos!

Absolutely fascinating experiment, thank you for the time and energy you spent.

I love the way you simplified and make explanations easy access to everyone, it is absulotuly FANTASTIC! Thank you so much!

Rich content, one of the best YT channels of its kind. Underrated.

Those cosmic rays just blew my mind! So beautiful to look at but as you say troubling when you think about it too much! I am still spreading the word of your channel to everyone I know. Hands down still the best channel on RU-vid.

Thank you! Like everyone else, I'm just blown away by this. I've always wondered about cloud chambers, but have never looked into it. You've done some amazing things on this channel, but this has to be my favourite (excuse the aussie spelling:) It's a tiny little glimpse, a hint into the reality underlying our universe. Like you, I think, I loved the last radiation source the best.

This will be a very thought-provoking episode for stoners on 4/20

Folks - he even went into detail about the knobs! That’s why we love this channel.

That reveal at the end was marvelous. Thanks TI!

Slick looking cloud chamber. Working on a peltier powered one myself and the cooling is not the problem (ignoring efficiency); making it look like something you would leave on a windowsill is where the work lies.

Loved this, thanks for sharing your amazing DIY science with such clear explanations. I also appreciated you sending out the notification. Will these be available on the channel afterwards? I missed part of the beginning.

such a great example of the incredibly beautiful and intricate world we live in, i was in awe when i first saw this just a year ago... thumbs up

I must have said "what?!" a dozen times; you just astonish. Your explanations are as clear are your experiments are awesome!

This looks so beautiful. I wish you would have added a few minutes at the end with relaxing music :D

"You're Swimming in Radiation... And you don't even know it!" lol, literally anyone with eyes can see we are swimming in radiation.

I seen this in Early 90's on a TV show called Connections. It's always amazing what you are taught in school to see from book to real life.

We talked about it in physics a month ago or so and I decided immediately to build one myself. I haven't reached my goal yet but with this video, I got like 300% of the information I needed to build it. You not only covered how to build it, but also how it works, which different cooling techniques are usable and gave us high quality pictures of the result. In total your quality of videos is just insane. I also really like those short phrases like "just think about that for short" which give a nudging to be fascinatet by our nature. Really like your videos and KEEP your level of quality in your videos!!!

this is up there with one of the best videos you’ve done.. wow.. you’re the cooler NileRed .. keep up the amazing work!

I think you missed an opportunity there, to generate a magnetic field creating alpha and beta trails curving in opposite directions

I had heard of and knew why they are used, but never knew how to build one. A cloud chamber was mentioned in another video I watched and suddenly, up pops your video. Thank you!

6:49 Same applies in Carpentry - you can never have too many clamps. You will never hear a woodworker say "I wish I didn't have so many clamps!"

Please don't do premieres or shorts.

Wow. I was a little worried you wouldn’t show it empty but you did that on purpose. It’s true. Just like looking at a drop of pond water for the first time in science class (I now own a professional lab microscope) cloud chambers give you eyes to see something truly spectacular. What’s just wizzing around all of us all the time. Sorry to leave so many comments. I’ve just wanted you guys or Applied Science to build one of these forever. Actually I think Applied science should still make one. But that was really really great. You turned a science experiment into a work of art. I can die happy now. Just kidding, but I do feel more complete than I did just a little while ago. Thank you. Just incredible. Green was the absolute best choice. The thought you put into the light spread and… just, just awesome. Guys… awesome. My favorite one so far. Something I knew you could nail. You blew away my expectations. So beautiful. The way the cosmic rays contrails seem to melt. Wow. Love it.

Absolutely stunning results... gorgeous to just stare at. Great job on an easy-to-make home build of a cloud chamber!

There is one such thing to play with in the swiss technorama in Winterthur. You even allowed to play with it. Seeing this chamber in real life has had a huge impact in my understanding of the topic 🤙😎

Videos on this channel are ACTUALLY educational. Much deeper explanations than other channels. 🔥🔥🔥

I'd just like to have a long form video of each of the materials sitting in the tanks just to watch. It's mesmerising.

I would love to see a follow up video on this exploring and testing more things. For example, curved particle paths with magnetic or electric fields, what materials reduce or fully block the radiation, can you enhance the effect with a laser plane… multiple different colored laser planes, and how about some ultra high speed footage to see a single particle trail develop across the screen for a full 10 seconds. Also, I found the upward traveling thicker, fingerlike protrusions particularly fascinating, Thanks, great video as always!

man... this dude's videos are always always always ... interesting.. informative.. and every other cool word to use :)

VIDEO suggestion. Boiling points of various things. To most people "boiling" only occurs in water at 100c ( 212f ), they do not realize that gasses boil. eg propane at -42c ( also why it works as a refrigerant ) thus going through a latent heat change ( latent heat of vaporization) of which you could also explain ( difference between website and latent heat ) .. You could use this opportunity to also explain to laymen the relationship between pressure and temperature . Love this channel :)

I'm absolutely thrilled, a lot of background knowledge, a lot to think about and absolutely professional. Thank you a lot!

This is the coolest cloud-chamber I've seen. Awesome!

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! I haven't started the video yet but YES!!!! IM SO EXCITED!! Cloud chambers ROCK!!!!

I am 70 and found physics demonstrations very interesting. I remember watching Dr Julius Summer Miller doing demonstrations on PBS.

Great video! A couple suggestions: 1) Get your hand videographer some kind of steady-cam gymbal? 2) In this case the radioactive sources reflecting the LED lighting was distracting. Could the sources be darkened without mitigating their radiation significantly? If so, I'd do that. I watch every video you make with great interest- this one was especially detailed and interesting.

hahaha! "back off the growth hormone..." so casually in the lecture. pretty great guys!

(38:00) Subtle reference to the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko with Polonium-21O. Nicely done, sir. You are well read.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen. Must be incredible to see in-person.

What a stunning combination -- science and art. Thank you.

Beautiful display of this apparatus. Thank you for this!

I was blown away by the clip of the first contrails. And then at the end by the cosmic rays. I’ve never heard of this before. Thanks for sharing.

I have seen many of your videos and love how detailed you get with every aspect of your experiments.

I've never seen one of these until today. 40 years on earth and still learning new things. Thank you!