cloud chamber

noun

: a vessel containing air saturated with water vapor whose sudden expansion reveals the passage of an ionizing particle by a trail of visible droplets

Examples of cloud chamber in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The first cloud chamber was devised by physicist Charles Thomas Rees Wilson in 1895 to reproduce the airborne puffs and study their behavior. —

Bill Gourgey, Popular Science, 23 Nov. 2023 In a recent email exchange, Coppola described watching particles produced by nuclear decay fly through a Wilson cloud chamber. —

Michael Alberty | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 4 Jan. 2022 The cloud chamber in Gilbert’s atomic lab contains a wire coated with polonium-210, the radioactive compound used to poison ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. —

Michael Alberty | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 4 Jan. 2022 As for the Partch, it was played by Partch, guitarist John Schneider’s ensemble dedicated to re-creating the art-object Partch instruments — the cloud chamber bowls, the exotic massive marimbas and the like. —

Mark Swed, latimes.com, 17 June 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cloud chamber.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of cloud chamber was in 1897

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Dictionary Entries Near cloud chamber

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Cite this Entry

Style

“Cloud chamber.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cloud%20chamber. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.

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Kids Definition

cloud chamber

noun

: a container of air saturated with water vapor whose sudden cooling reveals the path of an ionizing particle (as an electron) by a trail of visible droplets