General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

METAL AND GLASS CONSTRUCTION; RUBBER AND SYNTHETIC COMPONENTS. FABRIC COVERING ON ELECTRICAL CORD.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

18.5 cm

Width

17.5 cm

Height

32.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Physics

Category

Atomic & nuclear

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

CENCO

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Illinois

City

Chicago

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

THIS INSTRUMENT PRESUMABLY USED C. 1940S+.

Canada

PART OF A COLLECTION OF PHYSICS LABORATORY AND CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATION APPARATUS FROM MCMASTER UNIVERSITY. FOUNDED IN 1887 MCMASTER WAS ORIGINALLY A BAPTIST INSTITUTION, AND WAS LOCATED IN TORONTO. IN 1930 THEUNIVERSITY AND ITS STUDENT POPULATION OF 500 WAS MOVED TO HAMILTON. ( REF. 1)

Function

TO MAKE VISIBLE THE TRACK OF ALPHA PARTICLES IN AIR.

Technical

THE USE OF THE CLOUD CHAMBER AS A DEVICE TO SHOW THE TRACKS OF IONIZING PARTICLES WAS CONCEIVED IN 1910 BY CHARLES WILSON. PREVIOUSLY THEY HAD BEEN USED IN METEOROLOGICAL AND OPTICAL STUDIES. THE CLOUD CHAMBER WAS THE FIRST APPARATUS TO PERMIT STUDY OF THE DISINTEGRATION COMPONENTS OF NUCLEAR REACTIONS INCLUDING THE ENERGIES OF THE VARIOUS PARTICLES INVOLVED. OVER TIME CLOUD CHAMBERS BECAME LARGER: THEY WERE REPLACED (THOUGH NOT COMPLETELY) BY PARTICLE ACCELERATORS (EARLY 1930S) AND BUBBLE CHAMBERS (1952). (REF 1.)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Plate on base reads " CENTRAL SCIENTIFIC CO./ TRADE MARK/ CENCO/ REG. U.S. PAT. OFF./ LABORATORY/ APPARATUS/ SUPPLIES/ CHEMICALS/ CHICAGO U.S.A ". " U.S. PATENT/ 1617397 " incised on chamber support piece. " 1417/ CENCO " incised in underside of base. " 1920 " incised in underside of chamber support.

Missing

NONE. From CA of 11/29/2001 by Matthew Bruce: No - appears complete

Finish

BLACK WRINKLE FINISH ON MOST SURFACES, SAVE GLASS CHAMBER. BLACK RUBBER BULB. BROWN FABRIC COVERING ON ELECTRICAL CORD; BLACK PLUG.

Decoration

N/A