The user can operate the experiment with a set of controls, shown on the left side of the screen, and watch the effect on the apparatus at PPPL using the webstream video, shown on the right. (Credit: PPPL)
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed software with which anyone can easily observe and control a real 50,000 degree hot plasma experiment from anywhere in the world.
This “Remote Glow Discharge Experiment (RGDX)” consists of three main components:
- A live-streaming video that constantly observes an experimental apparatus housed at PPPL.
- A set of online controls.
- Information that explains what the user observes and controls, plus more in-depth resources that explore plasma and its uses.
The RGDX consists of a hollow glass tube with air held under vacuum. Supplying a voltage of up to 2000V generates a glow discharge within. The user has control of the pressure inside the tube, the voltage supplied to the plasma and of the strength of an electromagnet surrounding the tube. Users are guided through steps that gradually increase their level of engagement and introduce them to new topics.
Simple instructions explain how to quickly produce a plasma, for example. If the user is interested in the physics behind the voltages, pressures and magnets, further explanations are given for each topic. Users are questioned about the observed phenomena, such as the color of the light emitted by the plasma, and a deeper explanation of spectroscopy and its uses is provided.
Audiences for the RGDX can range from someone simply interested in controlling a physical apparatus from afar, to an undergraduate or graduate student who wants to study phenomena such as instabilities in a plasma or the physics behind plasma breakdown voltages. The RGDX could serve as an experimental component of either an online or in-class physics course, and the software can be adapted to a wide array of experiments in other fields of physics and, potentially, to experiments in other sciences as well.
The software can be accessed here, however at the time this article was written, there was a message which read “RGDX is coming live to your location soon. Stay tuned!”.
