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 23 of 32: from “precession” to “quasimode”.
- precession noun The wobbling motion of the axis of a spinning body when there is an external force acting on the axis.
- precompound adj Occurring just before the formation of an excited compound nucleus, when an incoming nucleon interacts with nucleons on the surface of the…
- premeasurement noun The preparation of a system for obtaining a desired result, typically the confinement of an object system in a small but macroscopic region…
- preon noun A hypothetical point-like particle, supposed to be a subcomponent of quarks and leptons and possibly bosons too.
- prequantization noun The process of finding a quantum analog of a classical system by introducing a quantization condition.
- prescaler noun A counting circuit used to reduce a high-frequency electrical signal to a lower frequency by integer division.
- preset noun A kind of variable resistor designed to have its resistance set while building the circuit, and then left at that value.
- prespacetime adj Prior to the existence of spacetime
- press verb To activate a button or key by exerting a downward or forward force on it, and then releasing it.
- pressure noun The amount of force that is applied over a given area divided by the size of this area; force per unit area.
- pressure wire noun Any of a set of wires leading from various points of an electrical system to a central station, where a voltmeter indicates the potential…
- presymmetry noun The electroweak symmetry of quarks and leptons that is responsible for the partial charges on quarks.
- pretrigger adj Prior to the activation of a trigger.
- primary noun A directly driven inductive coil, as in a transformer or induction motor that is magnetically coupled to a secondary.
- prime implicant noun A group of related 1's (implicant) on a Karnaugh map which is not subsumed by any other implicant in the same map. Equivalently (in terms…
- principal quantum number noun The quantum number (of an atomic orbital) that specifies the energy of an electron in an atom and, hence, which shell it occupies
- principle noun A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.
- printed circuit board noun A flat board that holds chips and other electronic components in layers that interconnect by means of copper pathways, often called traces.
- prism noun A transparent block in the shape of a prism (sense 1), typically with triangular ends, used to reflect or refract light.
- programmable read-only memory noun A type of read-only memory which can be written to once (write once, read many memory/WORM), and thereafter becomes fixed in value.
- projectile noun Any object propelled or thrown through space by the application of a force, such as strong wind.
- propagation noun The act of propagating, especially the movement of a wave.
- propagation constant noun The change underdone by the amplitude and phase of an electromagnetic wave as it travels in a certain direction.
- propagation time noun In a digital circuit, the amount of time required for a signal or wave to travel from one point of a transmission medium to another.
- propagator noun A function that represents the quantum propagation of a subatomic particle
- proper adj Eigen-; designating a function or value which is an eigenfunction or eigenvalue.
- proper acceleration noun The acceleration felt by an object, as opposed to the coordinate acceleration. For example the acceleration of an object at the surface of…
- protium noun The lightest and most common isotope of hydrogen, having a single proton and no neutrons: 11H. It is the only stable nuclide with no…
- proto-photon noun A theoretical but not yet detected particle proposed to explain, among other things, the mechanisms of gravity; a gauge boson.
- protoboard noun A board, having a matrix of small holes to which components may be attached without solder, used for the temporary construction and testing…
- protochemical adj Relating to the electrochemical action of protons (rather than electrons).
- protomatter noun A hypothetical substance from which the universe was created.
- proton noun A positively charged subatomic particle forming part of the nucleus of an atom and determining the atomic number of an element, composed of…
- protostring noun A hypothetical precursor to a fundamental string that can evolve into a fundamental string as the higher dimensions compactify.
- proximity effect noun A condition when a power cable carrying electric current which is non-uniformly distributed due to the presence of other power cable or…
- pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson noun A light scalar particle that arises from the spontaneous breaking of a global continuous symmetry, but with an additional small explicit…
- pseudochannel noun A virtual channel included in the mathematical model of electron collisions to account for excluded states when using the Matrix Effective…
- pseudohamiltonian noun A generalization of a pseudopotential, where in addition to changing the potential the mass is varied to achieve the desired properties of…
- pseudomolecular adj Having some characteristics of molecules
- pseudomomentum noun The property of a wave, analogous to momentum, that determines the force exerted by the wave when it interacts with matter
- pseudoplastic adj Whose viscosity decreases as shear stress increases (as with paint and ketchup, for example).
- pseudopotential noun A simplified approximation of the effective potential of electrons in a complex system such as a crystal lattice
- pseudorapidity noun A measure of the velocity of a particle relative to that of a beam of particles, approximated by a function of its angle.
- pseudorelativistic adj Of a system or quantum mechanical model that incorporates some relativistic effects without a fully relativistic treatment.
- pseudotensor noun A quantity that transforms like a tensor under a proper rotation but gains an additional change of sign under an improper rotation.
- pseudovector noun A quantity that transforms like a vector under a proper rotation but gains an additional change of sign under an improper rotation
- psi function noun The Schrödinger wave function
- psychrometrics noun The measurement or study of the physical and thermodynamic properties of the atmosphere and its water vapour.
- psychrometry noun Synonym of psychrometrics (“the measurement or study of the physical and thermodynamic properties of the atmosphere and its water vapour”).
- ptychography noun A technique that aims to solve the diffraction-pattern phase problem by interfering adjacent Bragg reflections coherently and thereby…
- pull up noun A pull-up resistor.
- pull-down resistor noun A resistor that is connected between a signal and ground in a circuit to ensure that the signal is at a low logic level.
- pull-up resistor noun A resistor that is connected between a signal and a positive voltage supply in a circuit to ensure that the signal is at a defined logic…
- pullability noun The amount of change in frequency of a crystal oscillator in response to a change in load capacitance.
- pullup noun A pull-up resistor.
- pulse verb To apply an electric current or signal that varies in strength to (something).
- purple plague noun The brittle, bright-purple intermetallic compound AuAl₂, formed when gold and aluminium are heated while in direct contact (for instance…
- PWB noun printed wiring board - A circuit board blank created by etching away material thereby exposing non-conductive lands between conductive…
- pycnometer noun A vessel of precisely known volume used by weighing to determine the specific gravity or relative density of a liquid.
- pylon noun A tower-like structure, usually one of a series, used to support high-voltage electricity cables.
- pyroclastic flow noun Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pyroclastic, flow: flow (uncountable) of pyroclastic particles.
- pyrotron noun A magnetic mirror.
- q noun Ellipsis of Q factor (“quality factor”).
- quad noun A group of four insulated wires twisted together to form two circuits of two wires each.
- quadrature noun The condition in which the phase angle between two alternating quantities is 90°.
- quadripole noun An electrical circuit that has two pairs of external terminals.
- quadrium noun A highly unstable synthetic isotope of the element hydrogen, 41H, having one proton and three neutrons.
- quadrupole noun A distribution of either electric charge or magnetization equivalent to two dipoles that point in opposite directions.
- quality noun In a two-phase liquid–vapor mixture, the ratio of the mass of vapor present to the total mass of the mixture.
- quantal adj Of or pertaining to a quantum.
- quantization noun A procedure for constructing a quantum field theory starting from a classical field theory; to represent by quanta
- quantize verb To limit the number of possible values of a quantity, or states of a system, by applying the rules of quantum mechanics
- quantized adj Expressed or existing only in terms of discrete quanta; limited by the restrictions of quantization (i.e. measurement).
- quantized electronic structure noun Any material that confines electrons in such a small space that their wavelike behaviour becomes important and their properties are…
- quantized vortex noun a flow pattern exhibited by superfluids, such as ⁴He below 2.17K, in which the circulation rate is restricted to a quantized multiple of…
- quantum adj Involving quanta, quantum mechanics or other aspects of quantum physics.
- quantum biophysics noun An interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of quantum physics and physical chemistry to study biological systems.
- quantum bit noun A normalized linear combination of an up state and a down state of, for example, the spin of an electron.
- quantum coherence noun The ability of a quantum state to maintain its entanglement and superposition in the face of interactions and the effects of thermalization.
- quantum electrodynamics noun The study of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with electrically charged matter within the framework of relativity and quantum…
- quantum foam noun Spacetime viewed on a quantum level, i.e. as a "foam" of randomly appearing and disappearing Planck-scale wormholes (black holes and white…
- quantum interference noun The instance of a subatomic particle interacting with and influencing itself and other particles while in a probabilistic superposition…
- quantum mechanics noun The branch of physics which studies matter and energy at the level of atoms and other elementary particles, and substitutes probabilistic…
- quantum multiverse noun A theory suggesting that every time a quantum event occurs, a new universe is created, thus splitting the wavefunction into multiple…
- quantum theory noun A theory developed in the early 20th century, according to which nuclear and radiation phenomena can be explained by assuming that energy…
- quantum unit of spin noun A constant used as a unit of measurement for particle spin, equal to Planck's constant divided by 2π.
- quantum universe noun A concept describing the entire universe using the principles of quantum mechanics, which govern the behavior of particles at the subatomic…
- quark noun In the Standard Model, one of a number of elementary subatomic particles having fractional electric charge that forms matter. They are…
- quark model noun A model organizing baryons and mesons according to their composition of bound quarks and antiquarks in groups of two or three; part of the…
- quark nugget noun A theoretical extremely dense composite particle composed of quarks, with densities greater than nuclear density.
- quark-gluon plasma noun A predicted state of matter, containing deconfined quarks and gluons, present in the very early universe (first millionth of a second), and…
- quarkyonic adj Describing elements of quantum chromodynamics that have characteristics both of quarks and of baryons.
- quarter-wave plate noun A sheet of birefringent material whose thickness is such that the light associated with the larger refractive index is retarded in phase by…
- quartz crystal noun A small crystal of quartz accurately cut in certain directions so that it can be vibrated at a particular frequency, to produce an electric…
- quasi-zero-dimensional adj Describing a state of quantum confinement in all three spatial directions, yet enough size or structure to show physical properties.
- quasiballistic adj Pertaining to scattering events with LO (Local Oscillator) phonons in a resonant tunneling emitter.
- quasicrystal noun any solid with conventional crystalline properties but exhibiting a point group symmetry inconsistent with translational periodicity
- quasifree adj Describing the state of electrons in a metal or other conductor that may move freely, but come up against a periodic potential in the…
- quasilocal adj Describing an extended but finite spacetime domain
- quasimode noun A linear combination of modes of the universe that corresponds to a cavity resonance.