For those who want to play around with the other form of non-dark matter:
"Plasmas have never been easy to create or exploit. But now you can make them in your own kitchen. ...
Kausik Das of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and several colleagues who have found a way to create plasmas in an ordinary kitchen microwave. Their technique opens the way for a new generation to experiment with this exotic form of matter and perhaps to develop new applications.
They also demonstrate several interesting applications for home-brewed plasmas.
Details:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.06784
(Score: 4, Insightful) by corey on Monday August 13 2018, @02:21AM (10 children)
Microwave: check.
Flask with partial vacuum: Uh, umm. Hrmm.
These headlines are great but a let down at times.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by arslan on Monday August 13 2018, @03:48AM (4 children)
Can't you just get something like a Büchner flask [wikipedia.org] and either DIY or buy a vacuum pump to simulate what is needed?
Didn't read the full arxiv paper just the journalist article.. so maybe there's more complexity there.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @04:18AM (3 children)
Fill flask with Mercury. Melt glass pipe to flask. Invert contraption and melt glass tube closed when Hg drains into a bowl (don't let bubbles in). Should be about 0.17Pa.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @05:26AM (2 children)
First, get your mercury in the quantity required to do so...that's not as easy as it once was.
36 years ago as a student I used to build mercury diff pumps (silicone oil? yes, they'd heard tell of such stuff)..we used to have gallons of mercury stored in an unlocked cupboard off a public corridor
19 years ago I had ready access to 6-7 pints of the stuff.
Nowadays? I don't even have a mercury thermometer in the house.
A decent second-hand vacuum pump isn't that hard to come by, and there's always the homebrew option using the compressor from a fridge/freezer.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 13 2018, @05:35AM
Give the specific weight and depending on the flask volume, handling it in the quantity required may not be easy either (250 mL of Hg will have about 4kg. Take a 3l flask and it may crack before you get to fill it up).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @03:05PM
It's easier than it ever was. You can order elemental mercury online and have it delivered to your door.
(Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Monday August 13 2018, @03:48AM (2 children)
On the online retails of your choice, search "vacuum HVAC pump".
E.g. on ebay, I got this [ebay.com] - in the full description, the vacuum is rated at 5Pa (which is 0.0375 torr). Some prices are too good to be true (the linked one is advertised at $47), but you should be able to find a good one under $200.
Old fridge compressors/vacuum pumps may be also adapted. [google.com]
Now, if you care to RTFA on arxiv, page 5 has some plots on the range of pressure they managed to initiate the plasma** - go from about 100Torr to over 1000Torr.
** interestingly, the total volume of the flask change the range of vacuum required for plasma initiation - the closeness of the flask walls plays a role, I reckon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @07:27AM (1 child)
1 atmosphere is 760 Torr, so I guess "partial vacuum" includes up to +5
psig?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 13 2018, @09:25AM
Ah, shit! My bad!!!
The 100-1000 range (on which plasma happens in a matter of seconds) is, of course (stupid me), milliTor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @12:36PM
Looks like a simple aspirator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirator_(pump) [wikipedia.org] won't quite do it?
Too bad, since kitchen sinks are usually located near the microwave...
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Monday August 13 2018, @03:16PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves