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In addition to several talks and workshops at various institutes about cosmic rays, this year the Marquette group partnered with another professor in our department, in addition to Marquette’s chapter of the society of undergraduate physics students (SPS), to initiate a new popup museum exhibit called "Plasmas and Particles" at Discovery World, the science museum in Milwaukee, WI, in which families can build see particle interactions in a cloud chamber, and build their own mini cloud chambers.
Through this pop-up exhibit (which our student group plans to organize monthly) our group introduced approximately one hundred children and families in the local area to cosmic rays and particle physics. By running the exhibit together with our undergraduate physics majors we also opened up opportunities for informal mentoring.
Cloud Chambers
Cloud chambers are a great outreach tool: while they can be the size of a room and very complicated, they can also be built from things you can find around your house. Within the cloud chamber, a vapor is supersaturated and ready to show a track when a particle passes through--like a contrail behind an airplane in the atmosphere--enabling direct visualization of cosmic rays!
We have developed several cost effective cloud chambers as part of our outreach efforts in astrophysics and particle physics using readily available materials to showcase that particle physics is for everyone! We run workshops for students and teachers to share methods to use these in the classroom.
One version uses clear solo cups, black-painted tuna cans, poster putty, and sticky felt.
A second version uses a fish tank, black tape, black felt, a cookie sheet and some window sealant.
A third version (not pictured) uses a standard icepack, two plastic containers, and a heat radiator from a computer, and boiling water. This also does not require dry ice.
A final version is more complicated but doesn't require dry ice, using a processor cooling unit combined with Peltier devices to achieve temperatures as low as -39 °C.
A professional cloud chamber with dry ice has also been showcased at Discovery World, Milwaukee where it provided an interactive hands on experience for the public.
Aspirational photo from wikipedia, will be replaced when we have ours put together.
Spark Chamber
Another particle-tracking spark chamber is currently under development. This setup incorporates scintillation detector panels to provide a triggering mechanism for particle detection. Undergraduate students are actively working on the electronics and data acquisition system for the scintillators as well as integrating the trigger with the high voltage plates of the spark chamber. This system is also planned to be demonstrated at Discovery World.
Pictured: Dakota, Soe, and Arun testing the balloon satellite. Here it's attached to a kite string so we could easily retrieve it. (June 2026)
Balloon Satellite
This project supports core topics in Survey of Meteorology (PHYS 1007) such as atmospheric structure, pressure systems, humidity, and environmental monitoring through outdoor demonstrations and practical laboratory applications. It aims to demonstrate the basic working principles of a weather satellite using a CubeSat style atmospheric payload that measures temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and air quality. The collected data are transmitted in real time to a ground station equipped with a wireless communication module. This allows the students to observe how atmospheric data are gathered, processed, and analyzed for weather monitoring.
Aspirational photo from https://www.weatherforschools.me.uk/html/weatherboxes.html, will be replaced when we have ours put together.
Weather Station
The weather satellite project is planned to be extended into a permanent weather monitoring station at the department building. This setup will include additional sensors such as a wind speed detector (anemometer) and will provide live weather updates. The system is also intended to collect data year round enabling long term studies of weather patterns and air quality variations.
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