cloud chamber
1
7.5
- noun
- /klaʊd ˈtʃeɪmbər/
- Specialized
:
cámara de nubes
- His theory of energy loss of charged particles in their passage through matter became the basis for extracting quantitative data from cloud chamber tracks and later, nuclear emulsions.
Examples
-
Consider Charles T. R. Wilson's cloud chamber, perhaps the greatest single scientific instrument of the first half of the twentieth century.
Academic text (1997) -
Could a physicist falsify this theory by playing around with cloud chambers or particle accelerators?
Blog text (21) -
A particle leaves the source in the cloud chamber.
Blog text (30) -
Wilson meant it literally when he called the device a "cloud chamber."
Academic text (1997) -
This process is somewhat like following the trails of atomic particles in a cloud chamber.
Academic text (1992) -
So Wilson invented the cloud chamber for the explicit purpose of observing glories.
-
Anderson was observing cosmic rays with a cloud chamber mounted vertically inside a magnetic field.
Academic text (2012) -
That same year, Anderson and his graduate student Seth Neddermeyer once again used a cloud chamber exposed to cosmic rays to discover another new charged particle—the muon.
Academic text (2012) -
Known to physicists for almost the entirety of this century, the cloud chamber, with its distinct tracks tracing the paths of particles, made the abstractions of atomic and nuclear physics appear as visually evident as skywriting.
Academic text (1997) -
In a cloud chamber, particles leave visible trails that help scientists trace their paths.
Synonyms
1
5.8
A machine that finds and shows very small particles inside atoms in physics experiments
1
7.8
A tank of very hot liquid where tiny bubbles show the paths of invisible particles
A device that makes vapor tracks to show where tiny charged particles move
A tool that shows the path of charged particles
A device that makes sparks to show paths of tiny charged particles
A device that makes tiny sparks when particles from radiation pass through it
How Detailed
- Archaic
1
7.8
- Specialized
1
7.5
- Specialized
1
9.0
- Specialized
- Specialized
7
4.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is transparently built from 'cloud' + 'chamber', so a B1 learner who knows both words would infer it refers to an enclosed space involving clouds or vapor. However, the specific technical function — detecting high-energy particle tracks — is specialized and not predictable from the constituents alone, so the relation is only partially clear to learners.
Etymology
The name cloud chamber comes from the way the device looks: inside a small chamber, drops of vapor form thin white cloud lines where fast particles pass, making visible 'trails'. That's why the name means a device that 'detects' and shows the 'paths' of invisible particles.