cloud chamber
Noun: A scientific instrument used to visualize the paths of electrically charged subatomic particles. It contains a supersaturated vapor; when a charged particle passes through, it ionizes molecules along its trajectory, causing tiny droplets of liquid to condense on these ions and form a visible track.
The term "cloud chamber" is used to refer to the specific apparatus itself. It is a compound noun. * The physicist used a cloud chamber to study cosmic rays. * The invention of the cloud chamber was a major breakthrough in particle physics. * A track in the cloud chamber confirmed the presence of an alpha particle.
- Wilson cloud chamber: The full name, honoring its inventor, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson.
- The Wilson cloud chamber earned its inventor the Nobel Prize in Physics.
- Diffusion cloud chamber: A later, improved type of cloud chamber.
- A diffusion cloud chamber can operate continuously, unlike the original expansion type.
- Bubble chamber: A later particle detector that uses a superheated liquid instead of a vapor.
- Particle detector: The general category of instruments that includes cloud chambers, bubble chambers, and wire chambers.
- Wilson chamber (specific synonym)
- Expansion chamber (specific type)
This is a technical, scientific term with a single, specific meaning related to experimental physics. It does not have idiomatic or phrasal verb uses.
- apparatus that detects the path of high-energy particles passing through a supersaturated vapor; each particle ionizes molecules along its path and small droplets condense on them to produce a visible track