Planning, design, construction and operation of a Pedagogical mini plate resistive chamber.

The design, planning, construction and of two Resistive Plate Chambers are presented. The Chambers consists of two phenolic plates of fiberglass and copper assembled in an chassis with a High Voltage power supply (between 450 and 2200V) where signals of the order of mV are obtained, produced by the incidence of cosmic rays. Two designs are presented, one where the chamber was designed and printed with a 3d design software and one where an aluminium case was used. The dimensions of the printed resistive plate chamber are 64 mm x 100 mm x 25 mm and the one with the aluminium case was a 60 mm x 70 mm x 40 mm. Similar results occur in both chambers.

As a result of their low cost and great resolution, they are used in applications in particle physics and astrophysics.

The chassis cover is constructed to accommodate the bare minimum of electronic circuitry required to correctly collect the signal. Printed circuit boards, or PCBs, are made with the minimal circuit in mind to accommodate the electronics enclosed by the covers. The signal from the collector is obtained using those PCBs. The detected signals serve as proof that charged particles are moving through the chambers.

Over 100 students were inspired to present their own chambers, constructed at the International Elementary Particle Laboratory as part of their regular courses, by the experience, which was used in Guatemala and Mexico, and the Quanta 2023 event.

We present technical details and some physical results, and pedagogical experiences, from these two mini resistive resistive plate chambers.