Particles Making Path in Smoke Chamber

[dimensionless]

I was talking to a friend the other day and they were telling me about some smoke chamber device. Apparently a 10 gallon chamber can be filled with smoke and some kind of "ray" would pass through the chamber and carve out a path in the smoke.

Does any one know anything about this? Do you know what kind of ray my friend was talking about? Does this smoke chamber device have a name?

[ZapperZ]

Are you sure it was a "smoke chamber" and not a "cloud chamber"?

Zz.

[kaabdalis]

I would think that your friend saw a Cloud Chamber
it's really easy to build. check this page

http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/~adf4/cloud.html

[dimensionless]

I'm sure he meant smoke chamber. He told me that they all had to smoke cigars in order to fill up the chamber.

Is it possible that the same effect might be observed with smoke?

[kaabdalis]

Well, I'm not sure.
The cloud chamber works by supercooled alcohol vapor that condenses when a particle passes through the chamber leaving a trail of droplets.

I dont see how this i possible with smoke. I'm not saying it is impossible,but i havent heard about it before.

[Curious3141]

Are we simply talking about a ray of visible light (ordinary or laser) scattering off smoke particles in a chamber ?

[dimensionless]

Are we simply talking about a ray of visible light (ordinary or laser) scattering off smoke particles in a chamber ?

Both set ups would require that the smoke or cloud be illuminated by visible light.

[dimensionless]

Well, I'm not sure.
The cloud chamber works by supercooled alcohol vapor that condenses when a particle passes through the chamber leaving a trail of droplets.

I dont see how this i possible with smoke. I'm not saying it is impossible,but i havent heard about it before.

It might work under the same basic principles with smoke. Rather than condensing into liquid, the particles would condense into some other material such as soot.

[Lee]

Maybe it was a bubble chamber he was talking about?

[Amanita-Virosa]

How does a bubble chamber differ from a cloud chamber? Thanks

[R34p3r]

i was looking around on the inernets and i saw something really cool. I cant find much on information according to this mabey you can help. How do bubble chambers work exaculy. Also i want a video if you can find one thankyou

[ZapperZ]

I'm going to merge this with a pre-existing thread. Maybe someone will respond and kill all the birds with one stone.

Zz.

Edit: Merge completed.

[Farsight]

It wouldn't be anything like an Ionization Smoke Detector would it?