Upgrading remote control capabilities of a DC discharge experiment

Through years of development, the remote glow discharge experiment (RGDX) has become a leading educational tool. The use of a direct-current glow discharge tube is a visually attractive way to expose the general public to plasmas. The experiment consists of two electrodes in a glass tube containing air. As a voltage is applied to the electrodes, the air is broken down to a plasma. The tube is also surrounded by a set of Helmholtz coils designed to control the plasmas magnetic field. By accessing a URL displaying the RGDX controls and a webcam, users can remotely control in real-time these parameters: voltage, gas pressure, and magnetic field. In this poster, we examine how an updated web interface and electrode separation, a fourth parameter, was added. The software and hardware upgrades needed to get to a functional, movable electrode provides users the capability of performing more advanced studies of plasmas from their home computer.