The cloud chamber works under a simple physical principle. Pure isopropyl alcohol drips in a tray while a heating grid above the tray helps evaporate the alcohol. When the ionized particles travel through this layer, the alcohol condenses and leaves the trails, highly visible and dynamic to the viewer. Concrete, for example has a higher than normal background radiation count. Visitors look through a spectroscope at a simulated magnified atom.
Visitors see how much space is between the nucleus and the surrounding electron cloud.
Even in a simple atom with only one electron, the electron moves in a random orbit, creating a cloud-like effect. Paper Cutting Interactive Visitors try to cut a 11-inch long strip of paper in half 31 times to end up with a final piece of paper the size of an atom. After about the eighth cut, the paper becomes quite small and impossible to continue to cut in half, representing the minute size of an atom. Brownian Motion Visitors look through microscope to observe vibrating particles jumping around in liquid. These molecules are vibrating from heat - when suspended in liquid this is visible, indicating the presence of the invisible atoms.