While walking around, you might not notice it, but muons are passing through your body at a rate of about 10,000 per minute. These fermions, identical to electrons except for their higher mass and magnetic moment, are created in the Earth’s atmosphere as cosmic rays collide with it. Despite only existing for about 2.2 microseconds, it is possible to detect them from the Earth’s surface and below.
One way to detect muons is through muon tomography, which involves detecting the particles’ passage through underground structures. However, this method requires expensive equipment. Fortunately, you can create your own muon detector at home using a cloud chamber or a photomultiplier-based setup.
To make a particle detector cloud chamber at home, you’ll need a plastic tub or cup, some felt or a sponge, isopropyl alcohol, and dry ice. By soaking the felt or sponge in the alcohol and securing it to the top of the tub, then placing the tub on top of a surface above the dry ice, you create your cloud chamber.
The setup works by evaporation and condensation of the alcohol gas. When a particle travels through the gas, it can knock off some of the electrons of the molecules within the gas, causing the air to become supersaturated. The charged molecules then form tiny droplets, resulting in streaks that show you the particle’s path.
In this setup, you can see all sorts of particles, including radon atoms and muons. It’s a pretty cool way to visualize cosmic particles passing through your kitchen.
If you’re mainly interested in detecting muons, there’s another clever trick you can do using Cherenkov radiation. The speed of light in a vacuum is the absolute speed limit of the universe, but it can be beaten when traveling through certain mediums like water or glass.
By using a photomultiplier in a closed container devoid of light, you can detect the Cherenkov radiation as it is produced by muons moving through the liquid contained within. This method allows you to detect muons without seeing the cool streaks of the cloud chamber, but will give you a sense of detecting a particle generated by cosmic rays colliding with our atmosphere.
With these methods, you can experience the thrill of detecting cosmic particles in your own kitchen. Who knows what other secrets these particles might hold?
Source: https://www.iflscience.com/it-is-surprisingly-easy-to-build-your-own-particle-detector-at-home-75915