bubble chamber


noun Physics.

an apparatus for determining the movements of charged particles, consisting of a chamber containing a superheated transparent liquid that, by boiling and producing bubbles in the path of an ionizing particle, indicates the path of the particle.
Compare cloud chamber.

Origin of bubble chamber

First recorded in 1950–55

British Dictionary definitions for bubble chamber

bubble chamber

noun

a device that enables the tracks of ionizing particles to be photographed as a row of bubbles in a superheated liquid. Immediately before the particles enter the chamber the pressure is reduced so that the ionized particles act as centres for small vapour bubbles

Scientific definitions for bubble chamber

bubble chamber
[ bŭbəl ]

A device used to observe the paths of charged subatomic particles. A bubble chamber consists of a container filled with very dense fluid that is close to boiling. The moving particles create tracks of bubbles in the fluid that can be photographed and analyzed. Bubble chambers have been largely supplanted in laboratories by more sensitive particle detectors that do not rely on the human eye. Compare cloud chamber.