DIY Vacuum Chamber
This is very simple to construct, and is made from low cost materials. The main chamber its self is the display case from a popular aftershave.
A bolt is inserted through the top of the plastic dome, and sealed with polymorph and rubberized glue. This bolt is used to allow electrical connection between the inside and the outside. A similar connection is made in the base of the chamber for a second electrode. The extraction pipe is also fitted in the base of the container.
The transparent dome can simply be lifted from the base (at normal pressure) and an o-ring is needed to seal it when the vacuum is on. The o-ring is simply placed in the groove for the dome with a bit of grease. If you can’t find an o-ring of the right size, a belt from a tape player, printer, or record deck may do the trick.
Although this setup could not contain a hard vacuum, it is perfect for plasma experiments, and other tests. As with any homemade device, great care must be taken when using this vacuum chamber. This device could implode if care is not taken to limit the pressure level.
This image shows the centre electrode of an asymmetrical dipole. This arrangement allows particles to be accelerated to a central point from all directions and is often used in experimental fusion rectors. Advance fusion reactors use toroidal (dohnut shaped) vacuum chambers known as a Tokamak
They wont get close to 0 becasue the are just hand pumped and the dome is plastic. You would need a perfect seal, high strength chamber and a good vacuum pump running for several days to get near to 0.
hi there,
i really want to get one of these vacuum kits but i have a small question. i just wanted to know how effective this is at pulling air. i dont expect it to reach the hight of 30″ (full vacuum, 0″ being normal pressure) but how high does it go?
The Plasma shown in the lower image was created inside the vacuum chamber pictured at the top of the page.
The shape you see is due to the shape of the electrodes used. The purple glow in the lower image is surrounding the central elctrode of two of the same design.
Each electrode consists of three wire rings places at rightangles to each other to form the roughly spherical shape you see. There is another electrode that is not shown in the image which is identical except that it is larger and surounds the glowing one.
In the top photo you can just see the wire coming down from the top that would be used to connect the outer electrode to the power supply.
is the picture up top the same object as the picture on the bottom..if not ,what created the picture on the bottm