Emily Howard - Cloud Chamber

Credits

Cloud Chamber

Cloud Chamber is a short piece for clarinet and piano inspired by the scientific aparatus of the same name. A cloud chamber is a closed enviroment containing a supercooled supersaturated water vapour and it is used for detecting particles of ionising radiation. So when a particle interacts with the vapour, it ionises it causing the resulting ions to act as condensation nuclei around which a mist will form. The high energies of these particles mean that a trail is left behind because of the number of ions produced along the path of the charged particle. The track have very distinctive shapes and this makes it possible to tell the difference between the track of, for example, alpha and beta particles.

In my composition, the instruments trace the tracks left by an imaginary particle on a lonely and solitary journey through a cloud chamber. Cloud Chamber was composed in 2006 and revised in 2007. It is dedicated to Nicholas Cox who gave the first performance with Jonathan Scott on 5 March 2006 at the RNCM woodwind festival. In September 2007, Cloud Chamber received its American premiere (David Campbell, Illinois State University).

Emily Howard

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