Detección de partículas ionizantes mediante la construcción de una cámara de niebla para uso didáctico

Abstract

The objective of this curricular integration work was to detect ionising particles in three selected points in the province of Cotopaxi: El Quilotoa, Los Illinizas and El Cotopaxi, with altitudes of 3874 masl, 4110 masl and 4525 masl respectively, by means of the construction of a fog chamber, which draws certain traces in its interior, product of different cosmic rays when passing through the sensitive medium. To check the correct functioning of the equipment, they were exposed to three radioactive sources: Na-22, Sr-90 and U-238. The identification of the trails generated in the equipment was carried out by direct observation of 21 recorded videos. The traces generated at different altitudes were mainly studied, where ionising particles were counted at 15-minute intervals during the six-day study for each site. In addition, the influence of the temperature of the equipment as well as the ambient temperature, given in the three research areas, was evaluated. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse these variables, with the result that the higher the altitude, the higher the probability of exposure to cosmic rays. In order to obtain an adequate temperature gradient, it is necessary that the temperature of the equipment exceeds -40 degrees Celsius, and the ambient temperature exceeds 0 degrees Celsius. It is concluded that it was possible to quantify and identify the ionising particles in the fog chamber at the different study points. The fog chamber is kept in the nuclear technique’s laboratory of the Faculty of Science for the didactic use of ESPOCH students. It is recommended to install a magnetic field in this equipment to distinguish the electrons from the positrons present in the environment.