Instruments

Bubble Chamber

Citation Formats

General Reference

Science Atlas. "Bubble Chamber." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://science.interactiveatlas.org/instruments/bubble-chamber.

APA Style

Science Atlas. (n.d.). Bubble Chamber. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://science.interactiveatlas.org/instruments/bubble-chamber

BibTeX

@misc{scienceatlas-bubble-chamber,
  author = {Science Atlas},
  title = {Bubble Chamber},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://science.interactiveatlas.org/instruments/bubble-chamber},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A bubble chamber tracks the paths of subatomic particles as strings of tiny vapor bubbles that form along their trails through a superheated liquid. Donald A. Glaser built the first working bubble chamber in 1952 to overcome the limitations of the earlier cloud chamber, and its greater liquid density let physicists record collisions in far finer detail, leading to the discovery of a host of new particles; Glaser received the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention.

Facts

Invented Year

1952 1

Measures

Tracks left by electrically charged subatomic particles passing through the chamber. 2

Operating Principle

A piston suddenly drops the pressure on a superheated liquid, and a charged particle's ionization track nucleates a trail of microscopic bubbles, whose curvature in an applied magnetic field reveals the particle's momentum. 2

Resolution

Resolutions down to a few micrometers have been achieved in operated bubble chambers. 2

Open Questions

Operating Range

Not stated as a numeric figure; the chamber's liquid, most often liquid hydrogen, is held just below its boiling point.

Source describes the operating state qualitatively but gives no numeric temperature, pressure or energy range. Retry without SourceSlug after ambiguous duplicate citation rejection (FactQueueId 825).

Cross-Tradition Connections