This page gathers the 3,177 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Physics”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples. Page 11 of 32: from “field lens” to “fuel cell”.
- field lens noun a positive-powered lens or group of lenses that comes after the objective lens and before the image plane or the eyepiece, serving to…
- field line noun A visual aid for visualizing vector fields; a line drawn such that the direction of its tangent at any point equals the direction of the…
- field of view noun The angular extent of what can be seen, either with the eye or with an optical instrument or camera.
- field shift noun The portion of an isotope shift produced by the changing shape of a nucleus upon the addition of a neutron
- field stop noun The aperture that limits the field of view of a lens.
- field-programmable gate array noun a gate array designed to be configured by the customer or designer after manufacturing in the field, i.e. after manufacturing.
- fifth force noun A hypothetical fundamental force, distinct from gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong force and weak force, proposed to explain various…
- filament noun A massive, thread-like structure, such as those gaseous ones which extend outward from the surface of the sun, or such as those (much…
- filtrate tracer noun A substance added to a drilling fluid to track the movement and properties of the filtrate (the liquid which passes through a filter)…
- firewall noun A hypothetical phenomenon where an observer falling into a black hole encounters high-energy quanta at or near the event horizon.
- firm error noun A type of error where a signal or datum becomes wrong and remains wrong until the equipment is power-cycled, but does not physically damage…
- first-order hold noun A mathematical model of the practical reconstruction of sampled signals that could be done by a conventional digital-to-analog converter…
- fissibility noun The ease with which a nucleus undergoes fission.
- fissile adj Capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction.
- five-dimensional adj Of a space, containing five dimensions.
- flash point noun The lowest temperature at which a liquid can form an ignitable mixture in air near the surface of the liquid.
- flashboard noun A sheet of material that is subjected to an electric pulse or flashover in order to produce plasma.
- flashcard noun A solid-state digital memory storage format, commonly found on computers, digital cameras and cellphones.
- flashover voltage noun The voltage at which an electric discharge occurs between two electrodes that are separated by an insulator.
- flat noun A flat (i.e. plane) mirror
- flatband noun A horizontal part of the band diagram of a semiconductor at which there is no voltage drop across it
- flatlander noun An inhabitant of or observer in a universe with two spatial dimensions.
- flatpack noun A surface-mounted circuit board with leads attached in the plane of the board.
- flavor noun One of the six types of quarks (top, bottom, strange, charmed, up, and down) or three types of leptons (electron, muon, and tauon).
- flavorless adj Without flavor.
- flexodomain noun Any of a set of regions of a nematic liquid crystal formed in the presence of an alternating electric field
- flexoelectricity noun The mechanoelectrical production of electricity by bending a material (especially some types of liquid crystal)
- flip-flop noun A bistable; an electronic switching circuit that has either two stable states (switching between them in response to a trigger) or a stable…
- flit noun A particular, unexpected, short lived change of state.
- float verb To be not connected or referenced to a known reference voltage.
- floating ground noun A reference point for electric potential in a circuit which is not connected to the actual earth ground.
- floor plan noun A layout representation of where the major functional blocks of an integrated circuit will be physically placed.
- flow battery noun A form of electrochemical storage cell in which electrolyte flows between connected tanks; the direction of flow being opposite when the…
- fluctuator noun A quantum system in which an electric charge moves back and forward between two states that are separated by an energy barrier
- fluence noun A measure of particle flux (or that of a pulse of electromagnetic radiation)
- fluid dynamics noun The scientific study of the properties and behavior of moving fluids (gases and liquids).
- fluoresce verb To emit electromagnetic radiation, especially visible light, when absorbing radiation of some other wavelength.
- fluorescence noun The emission of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by a material when stimulated by the absorption of radiation or of a subatomic…
- fluorescence spectroscopy noun An analytical technique that analyzes the fluorescence produced by a sample; fluorometry or spectrofluorimetry.
- fluorine-18 noun An artificial radioisotope of fluorine, 189F, having 9 protons and 9 neutrons, that is an important industrial source of positrons
- flutter verb To undergo divergent oscillations (potentially to the point of causing structural failure) due to a positive feedback loop between elastic…
- flux noun The rate of transfer of energy (or another physical quantity), especially an electric or magnetic field, through a given surface.
- fluxgate noun Any of several devices that use soft iron cores surrounded by coils of wire that generate a pattern of induced currents when it moves…
- fluxless adj In which no flux occurs.
- fluxtube noun A cylindrical region of space containing a magnetic field that is parallel to the walls of the cylinder.
- flyby anomaly noun The discrepancy between current scientific models and the actual increase in speed observed during a planetary flyby by a spacecraft.
- flying noun The action or process of sustained motion through the air.
- focal depth noun The field of view of a camera that is in sharp focus.
- focal length noun A measure of how strongly an optical system converges or diverges light, the inverse of optical power. In the simple case of a single…
- focal plane noun Any plane perpendicular to the axis of a lens or mirror.
- focal point noun A focus; a point at which rays of light or other radiation converge.
- focalization noun The act or practice of putting into focus.
- focus noun A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
- foil noun Clipping of hydrofoil.
- Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation noun A unitary transformation of the orthonormal basis in which both the Hamiltonian and the state are represented; it has applications in…
- force noun The generalized abstraction of this concept.
- force field noun A region of space (a vector field) in which a force operates; contains lines of force; a field of force.
- force of nature noun A fundamental force.
- force pair noun Two forces acting at the same point with equal magnitude but opposite direction, resulting from Newton's third law ("every action has an…
- form verb To treat (plates) to prepare them for introduction into a storage battery, causing one plate to be composed more or less of spongy lead…
- form factor noun The ratio of the RMS value to the absolute mean of a sinusoidal wave (especially to that of an alternating current).
- formalism noun A particular mathematical or scientific theory or description of a given state or effect.
- formant noun A band of frequencies in a sound spectrum that have greater intensity and determine the quality of a sound, especially the characteristic…
- formfactor noun Any of various calculations representing the shape or distribution of a physical property within a microsystem such as an elementary…
- four-dimensional adj Relating to the four dimensions of space-time (three spatial dimensions with the addition of time as the fourth).
- Fourier transform noun A particular integral transform that when applied to a function of time (such as a signal), converts the function to one that plots the…
- fourth dimension noun The dimension of time.
- fractional crystallization noun the separation of two solutes from the same solution by using either a solvent or a crystallization temperature such that only one solute…
- fractionating column noun An apparatus for the separation of the volatile components of a liquid by means of fractional distillation, sometimes accompanied by…
- frame noun A division of time on a multimedia timeline, such as 1/30 or 1/60 of a second.
- frame dragging noun The bending out of shape of space and time near a rotating body, as predicted by general relativity.
- frame of reference noun A set of axes which enable an observer to measure the position and motion of all bodies in some system relative to the reference frame.
- frame-alignment recovery time noun The amount of time that elapses between a valid frame alignment signal that is available at the receiving terminal equipment and the moment…
- franklinic adj Relating to the electricity from a machine, rather than from a redox reaction.
- Fraunhofer line noun any of a series of dark lines in the solar spectrum; due to the absorption of light by atoms and molecules in the Sun's atmosphere
- free body diagram noun A diagram showing a single body or system of bodies with arrows indicating all forces acting on the system.
- free convection noun The convection (carriage) of contents of a fluid, such as mass or (especially) heat, by means of currents induced in the fluid by a…
- free electron noun An electron not attached to an atom.
- free radical noun A molecule, ion or atom that has one or more unpaired electrons, and which is generally highly reactive (and therefore often occurs only as…
- free space noun vacuum; a space free of matter.
- free surface noun The surface of a fluid that is subject to zero parallel shear stress (e.g. the interface between two homogeneous fluids).
- free surface effect noun The tendency of liquids and liquid-like aggregates to move in response to changes in the attitude of a craft's cargo holds, decks, or…
- free-fall time noun The characteristic amount of time required for a body to collapse under its own gravitational attraction, if no other forces exist to…
- freefall noun A state of motion affected by no acceleration or force other than that of gravity.
- freefalling adj Undergoing freefall.
- freezeout noun Any situation in which the motion of a system of particles ceases.
- freezing point noun The temperature at which a liquid freezes, and the solid and liquid phases are in equilibrium; normally the same as the melting point.
- freezing-point depression noun A drop in the minimum temperature at which a substance freezes, caused when a smaller amount of another, non-volatile substance is added…
- Frenkel-Kontorova model noun A fundamental model of low-dimensional nonlinear physics, describing a chain of classical particles with nearest-neighbor interactions…
- frequency domain noun The analysis of mathematical functions or signals with respect to frequency, and possibly a phase, rather than time.
- frequency multiplier noun An electronic circuit that produces an output frequency that is an integral multiple of an input frequency.
- fresnel noun A unit of frequency equal to 10¹² hertz, or one terahertz.
- Fresnel number noun A dimensionless quantity (denoted F), such that for an electromagnetic wave passing through an aperture and hitting a screen, F=(a²)/(Lλ)…
- Fresnel zone plate noun An optical device that uses diffraction through alternate transparent and opaque rings to function as a lens
- fret noun Förster resonance energy transfer
- friction noun A force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact.
- fringe noun A light or dark band formed by the diffraction of light.
- fringing noun Any anomalous electric or magnetic effect at the edges of a region.
- frozon noun A proposed type of theoretical particle, a Planck-scale particle with Planck energy, whose field fluctuations are frozen in time due to…
- fuel cell noun An electrochemical device in which the intrinsic chemical free energy of fuel and oxidant is catalytically converted to direct current…