nuclear emulsion

[noo-klee-er i-muhl-shuhn, nyoo-]

noun

Physics.

1. a photographic emulsion in the form of a thick block, used to record the tracks of elementary particles.

Pronunciation Note

See nuclear ( def. ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of nuclear emulsion¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

The research team managed to snag a set of muon detectors—called nuclear emulsion films—from their Japanese partners to observe muons bouncing around what they realized was a 100-foot-long cavity in the middle of the pyramid.

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One type were nuclear emulsion films.

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The exposure time for the nuclear emulsion film used around the Great Pyramid was measured in months.

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One type of muon detector, called a nuclear emulsion film, catches muons as lines of little black globules.

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Its telltale track through a sandwich of three dozen sheets of plastic, nuclear emulsion and photographic film looked unfamiliar to cosmic-ray researchers.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive