The 8 Sailors - Corabia

Roșu Miriam-Anamaria, Iancu Roxana-Maria, Niculae Raluca-Daniela,

Pița Mihai-Oprea, Drăghici Cătălina-Maria, Constantin Delia-Elena,
Drăghia Alina-Maria, Bocai Maria-Alexandra
Theoretical Highschool “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” – Corabia, Romania
 April 14, 2022

I. Why we want to participate

We are team "Corabia", we’re passionate about research in the field of physics,
knowledge of phenomena and the environment, of innovation for a better quality of life.
We’ve decided to participate in "CERN’s Beamline for Schools Competition (BL4S)" to
contribute in the discovery of new ways to use particles for the benefit of humanity and to
overcome the limits of our current knowledge.
In middle school we participated in the team competition "Misterioasele Științe" and also
in the "Physics Olympiad" until the second stage and in the summer school organized at the
"Faculty of Physics of the University of Bucharest" in collaboration with the "Măgurele
Research Center".
II. The experiment
 In experimental physics, a "particle detector" or a "radiation detector" is a tool used to
detect, track, and identify particles, such as those produced by, for example, nuclear decay,
cosmic radiation, or interactions of particles.
A cloud chamber is a particle detector that shows the passage of nuclear particles through
matter in the form of organs. This is an enclosure (sealed or not) in which a phase of water
vapor or supersaturated alcohol is present. Oversaturation is created by two different physical
principles:
 by expanding the volume of the enclosure by a piston: these are expansion chambers
or "Wilson Chamber" (1911)
 by cooling the enclosure support: these are diffusion chambers or "Langsdorf
Chamber" (1939)
Cloud rooms have been used over time to improve:
 the study of radioactive elements;
 the study of the products of nuclear reactions;
  the study of the interactions between matter, radiation, gas, vapors;
Our team developed the "diffusion room" tool that works only with a pure alcoholic
phase, the extreme cold of the surface preventing the use of water (it would crystallize). The
necessary materials were:
 plastic container with lid
 99% isopropyl alcohol
 dry ice
  insulated container (for example, a foam cooler)
 absorbent material - felt
 black iron plate
 flashlight
The operating plane is only horizontal, the oversaturated layer being placed by gravity
above the cooled surface. The observed white marks consist of thousands of drops of alcohol
that have condensed where a nuclear particle has passed. Depending on the shape of the traces
(length, trajectory, density of the droplets), it is possible to identify the particle that passed
through the detector. Only charged nuclear particles (capable of ionizing matter) are
detectable in "cloud chambers".
In a "cloud chamber", it is necessary to obtain a plate cooled to at least -20 ° C to create a
state of oversaturation. The solvent used is isopropyl alcohol. The use of dry ice makes it
possible to sufficiently cool this iron plate.
The principle of operation is as follows: in a semi-sealed chamber with ambient air, the
black surface is brought to a negative temperature. At the top of the container, the felt was
used to absorb liquid alcohol. Some of the alcohol evaporates due to its vapor pressure and
when these vapors come in contact with the bottom of the chamber brought to a very low
temperature, it condenses into drops that create a mist (there is natural microscopic dust that
triggers the formation of this mist ). However, a small part of the alcohol vapor cooled by the
cold surface does not condense and floats above the surface forming a oversaturated volume
of vapor that is metastable (because it is a cooled gas).
 The transition from one state to another (here the condensation of gaseous alcohol) is
facilitated when the environment contains impurities (dust). When a charged nuclear particle
passes through matter, it loses energy by ionizing the atoms it encounters in its path. The
resulting ions thus become "impurities" as discovered by Wilson. Unstable vapors will pass to
the liquid state by condensation into droplets where the ions were created: the ions created
along the particle path will rematerialize the particle path in matter in the form of thousands
of drops of alcohol. Strong enough lighting will make it possible to highlight traces (a black
plate is useful to maximize contrast).
Only charged particles can create ions in matter as they move. Thus, the particles
observable in a cloud chamber will be electrons (e-), positrons (e+), protons (p+), alpha (He2+)
and muons (μ+/-). Neutral particles (neutrons and gamma) will be indirectly detectable by the
charged particles they will create in matter due to their interaction with it.
Electrons are the lightest particles of those observable in a cloud chamber. They quickly
lose their energy by braking radiation as a result of electrostatic shocks with nuclei or clouds
of electrons, resulting in an irregular trajectory in a "cloud chamber" (they make a lot of
"zigzags").
In the next attempt to perform a similar experiment, we aim to visualize the trajectories of
the particles using a magnetic field under an applied voltage.
III. Conclusion
Physicists believe that the essential fragments missing in the actual model of the Universe
will be discovered via an approximate of a billion proton collisions per second that will be
produced at the LHC. Because of the collisions, hundreds of thousands of particles can be
created, including the undiscovered, but predicted by theory ones. The most enigmatic
predicted particle, by the theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, can be produced associative with a
top-antitop quark pair. Therefore, the information obtained at LHC could help the physicists
answear the question if our world is or is not multidimensional. Also, there we could use the
engineering and academic experience to solve certain real world problems.
IV. What we hope to take away
 Therefore, our enthusiasm and tilt towards everything about this opportunity as well as
our curiosity and passion for particle physics are defining features for each one of us.
As we prepared our proposal, we encountered many obstacles on the road that tested our
patience and coordination, but we learned the power of teamwork and managed to widen our
perspective about physics since in school we’re shown just a tiny part of the whole picture.
Overall this experience would allow us to increase our knowledge of particle physics
furthermore and promote this concept in our region so others could take part in this amazing
journey of discovering the secrets that holds the world we live in together.