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Air pollution sensor
take apart a radioactive smoke detector, then jigger the capacitors to detect PPM instead, measuring trace particulates | |
Take a radioactive smoke detector apart and you find a
radioemitter and a what I think is a two plate capacitor
that varies its charge with ionization.
Why not just change the circuit (RC + amplifier) to have
electron variation amplified 1000 times.
The new detector could sense eentsy amounts
of
particulate air pollution. It could be as cheap as
radioactive smoke detectors were.
I know, they use optics now, and a laser
emitter/detector
pair would most likely work better, but this version is
radioactive!
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Annotation:
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I'm not sure this would work - I imagine that you're up against
inherent electronic noise. |
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I think cloud chambers work on one atomic decay. |
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If it does work it would be a nifty project for
electronics magazines, and you might be able to put the
detector side in a little porous bag to screen out everything
but the PM 2.5 |
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If you have a PM2.5 filter, you'll need a pump to move air through the sensor. |
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