An economical smoke chamber and light-sheet microscope system for experiments in fluid dynamics and electrostatics

Abstract

A smoke chamber and light-sheet video microscope setup is relatively easy to construct and provides opportunities for undergraduates to participate in a variety of advanced experiments, including the demonstration of Brownian motion and the interaction of induced electrostatic dipoles in aerosol particle agglomeration. We present results of these experiments along with information to allow replication of the setup in undergraduate physics laboratories. A theoretical model of the rate of aerosol agglomeration of long dipole chains as a function of electric field agrees with experiments at field strengths up to 200 kV m−1.