| 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. |
| bubble chamber n. An apparatus in which the movement and collision of ionizing particles is determined by the examination of trails of gas bubbles that form in the paths of the particles as they move through a superheated liquid. |
bubble chamber  (bŭb'əl) Pronunciation Key
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. |
