Submitted by:
Graduate Student Association, CLEO collaboration.
M. Bishai, V Boisevert, A Foland, J Hinson, N Menon(#), Dr. R Patterson(*), T Meyer, G Thayer
(#)Principal Author
(*)Faculty Sponser:
Wilson Laboratory
Cornell University
Ithaca NY
(607) 255 4882

In an effort to educate the general public about the world of particle physics and astrophysics, we plan to build a hands-on exhibit which would allow them to see cosmic rays. The exhibit will be designed for exhibition at the Ithaca Sciencenter, the only community-built science museum in the world. The exhibit will also encourage the public to visit the Wilson Laboratory, home of the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) and the CLEO physics experiment, which is located near the Sciencenter.

We plan to build a portable cloud chamber with a viewing area of approximately three feet by three feet. Similar chambers are on exhibit at the San Francisco Exploratorium and the Deutsche Technical Museum in Munich. We have already built a smaller scale version, operated with dry ice. The proposed chamber would use a permanent refrigerating system obtained from a small commercial refrigerator. With the aid of accompanying wall charts, we aim to explain to the viewers the nature and source of the tracks detected by the cloud chamber. We will have a Polaroid camera to allow a viewer to take a limited number of snapshots of interesting events under the supervision of a qualified guide. The viewer could then compare the picture to a set of photographs we would have already taken. We also want to the viewer to observe the effects of a magnetic field. Viewers can also observe tracks from particle sources we have around our home, such as a smoke detector or a luminous watch dial.

The chamber and the accompanying charts and experiments will be on loan to the Ithaca Sciencenter. With an annual attendance of 50,000 from 50 states, 60 countries and 6 continents of which 44% are teens and adults, we believe that the Sciencenter would be an ideal location for such an exhibit. The portability of the exhibit will allow us to display it in neighboring high schools and other community centers. Furthermore, the Wilson Laboratory receives approximately 10,00 visitors annually. Having such a device, instead of passive pictures and electronics, would be a great aid in explaining the techniques of particle detection and identification to these visitors.

We solicit your financial assistance for the above mentioned activities to offset the cost of purchasing material only. We will use the extensive machine and technical facilities available to us at Wilson Laboratory to bring our project to fruition. Additional funds are also available from the Wilson Laboratory and the CLEO collaboration to supplement the APS grant. All funds received will be used for this project alone. We will furnish a detailed report of our expenditure within a year of receiving the grant.

We hope that this exhibit will be a nucleus around which we could build other exhibits with the same theme, for instance a spark chamber, in the future.

Ithaca Sciencenter:
Dr. Charles Trautmann
Director

Dr Kathleen Kraft
Exhibits Coordinator