A Low-Cost, Mass-Production Plasma Physics Demo Kit for Middle and High School Classroom Instruction

Plasma physics classroom demos are often hazardous due to high voltage/current sources and complex due to vacuum systems requiring custom machined parts that are not accessible to middle/high schools, while cost limits accessibility to in-class concept demonstration in under-resourced schools, or schools where plasma physics and STEM are not part of the emphasized curriculum. A mass-producible kit developed for APS-DPP teachers day addresses this gap in hands-on plasma physics education in the middle/high school classroom by utilizing entirely off-the-shelf components at $200 per kit and requiring only a pair of scissors for assembly. Students construct a vacuum chamber from a syringe body and refrigeration vacuum pump and utilize a capacitively coupled plasma globe as a safe high voltage power source to explore plasma emission spectroscopy and paschen’s law, then examine the Lorentz force by building a crooks tube and apply these lessons to analyses a simulated magnetosphere showing the aurora and Van Allan belts by constructing a Birkeland Terrella. This presentation will show your university how to construct these demo kits for local outreach or distribution to local schools as part of your outreach program, and provide components lists, assembly instructions, and a classroom based curriculum.