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For the larger Phywe cosmic ray detector room temperature is  a
consideration. The refrigeration unit gives off considerable heat and if the
differential is too great the tracks will not form. As Joe mentioned dim
light is important in order to visualize the tracks. Beware of alcohol with
too much water as tracks also will not form. The larger unit sits on the
floor, as opposed to the the smaller one that Joe has that sits on a table.
We had a problem with rug fluff coating the cooling fins. Phywe altered the
design to take the rug fluff in to account. What we really wanted was to
have them totally redesign the unit so kids could see the tracks. There is a
fair amount of empty space inside but they wanted us to help finance the
re-engineering. It was less expensive for us to build steps. It is not ADA
compliant being too high for wheel chair bound visitors to see the tracks. I
think the audio is worth considering because the tracks are so visually
compelling no one wants to be distracted by a text label.

The upside is it visually compelling of an effect few if any visitors ever
see and when described well is awe inspiring. The down side is expense;
neither of the Phywe's are inexpensive. However they are very, very well
engineered and designed. Once set up they run flawlessly. And if not Phywe's
support and service, even from Germany, is exemplary.

Martin

Martin
- Show quoted text -
-- 
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation, Consultant
New York Hall of Science
mweiss at nyscience.org
347-460-1858



-- 
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation, Consultant
New York Hall of Science
mweiss at nyscience.org
347-460-1858

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