EXPERIMENT: AWAN_AmαS_At

AWAN_AmαS_At

AWAN Americium-241 Alpha Scattering Survey in Atmosphere

BACKGROUND

The assembly of AWAN cloud chamber was completed in May 2020. This experiment is my first attempt to properly record alpha particle tracks emanating from Am-241. Two types of source mounting was attempted: homemade lead collimator, aluminium slits, to various successes. In the beginning the condensant used was pure 2-propanol; in later acquisitions, a mixture was used instead. Using a mixture of condensant improved track contrast and sharpness. 

Am-241 primarily decays through alpha particles; they were allowed to travel in atmosphere to observe occasional collisions with atomic nuclei present in air. Am-241 sometimes decays through gamma emission; its photoelectrons were also recorded and studied.

This experiment is NOT intended to measure the scattering angles of collision events, so direct photography instead of stereo setup was used. This experiment serves as exploratory work to fine-tune cloud chamber designs for specific experiments later. 

EXPERIMENT OBJECTIVES

1. To determine the frequency of alpha collisions in air.
2. To determine the frequency of horizontally incident cosmic rays.
3. To determine the frequency of photoelectrons emitted by Am-241.
4. To determine the frequency of secondary electrons excited by alpha particles