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 29 of 32: from “suprathermal” to “time alignment”.
- suprathermal adj Having an energy greater than that associated with a comparable entity generated by thermal excitation
- surface layer noun The layer of molecules at the surface of a liquid that is responsible for surface tension
- surface plasmon noun A quantized electromagnetic wave trapped at a metallic surface through interaction with the free electrons of the metal.
- surface tension noun the effect on the surface of a liquid that makes it behave as a stretched elastic membrane; it is caused by unbalanced intermolecular forces
- surface-conduction electron-emitter display noun a flat panel display technology that uses surface conduction electron emitters to provide electrons for every pixel. The electrons strike…
- surface-mount adj Of electronic components, able to be soldered on top of printed circuit boards.
- surface-mount technology noun A method in which the electrical components are mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board.
- surge noun A sudden electrical spike or increase of voltage and current.
- surroundings noun All parts of the universe that are not within the thermodynamic system of interest.
- susceptibility noun electric susceptibility, a measure of how easily a dielectric polarizes in response to an external electric field (compare permittivity).
- suspension noun The state of a solid or substance produced when its particles are mixed with, but not dissolved in, a fluid, and are capable of separation…
- swampland noun The set of effective low-energy physical theories that are not compatible with quantum gravity.
- switchboard noun A large piece of power-distribution equipment that directs electricity to multiple loads.
- switcher noun A switchmode power supply.
- switchgear noun A device used to control, meter, protect, and regulate electronics as part of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution.
- switchmode adj Being or relating to a power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently.
- switchyard noun Synonym of substation.
- synchro noun A type of rotary electrical transformer that is used for measuring the angle of a rotating machine such as an antenna platform. In its…
- synchronizer noun A kind of arbiter.
- synchrotron noun A form of cyclotron in which charged particles are accelerated by an electric field that is synchronized with a magnetic field that keeps…
- synchrotron radiation noun The electromagnetic radiation emitted by the acceleration of relativistic charged particles in a synchrotron or under natural conditions…
- synthesizer noun An electronic circuit that generates an electronic signal oscillation with accurate timing from a reference oscillator.
- syntonic adj Having the same frequency.
- syntony noun A condition in which two oscillators have the same resonant frequency.
- Sziklai pair noun A configuration of two bipolar transistors, similar to a Darlington pair but having one NPN and one PNP transistor.
- T wave noun Synonym of T-ray.
- T-ray noun An electromagnetic wave with a frequency intermediate between, and sharing the properties of, short radio waves and long infrared waves…
- tachyon noun A hypothetical particle that travels faster than the speed of light.
- tactoid noun An elongated liquid crystal microdomain
- tail noun Synonym of pigtail (“a short length of twisted electrical wire”).
- tailwind noun A wind that blows in the same direction as the course taken by an aircraft, sailing ship, bird, etc.; a following wind.
- talbot noun An mks unit of luminous energy, exactly corresponding to the SI lumen second.
- tap noun A connection made to an electrical or fluid conductor without breaking it; a tapping.
- tape out verb To complete the design of an integrated circuit so that the photomask can be sent out for fabrication.
- tapeless adj Not using or requiring the medium of tape, such as audio or video tape.
- tapeout noun The point at which the design of an integrated circuit is completed and the photomask is sent out for fabrication.
- tapping noun A connection made to some point between the end terminals of a transformer coil or other component.
- tau noun Ellipsis of tau lepton or tau particle (“an unstable elementary particle which is a type of lepton, having a mass almost twice that of a…
- tauonium noun a subatomic particle formed by the bound state of a matter tauon with its antimatter partner antitauon
- teapot effect noun The phenomenon whereby a liquid being poured from a container runs down the spout or the body of the container instead of flowing out in an…
- teaser noun A shunt winding on field magnets for maintaining their magnetism when the main circuit is open.
- TEC noun Initialism of thermoelectric cooler: an electrical heat-transferring device which applies the Peltier effect.
- technicolor adj Describing something in a technicolor model, a model that is similar to the Standard Model but lacks a scalar Higgs field.
- telecentric adj Relating to a compound lens which has its entrance or exit pupil at infinity; in the prior case, this produces an orthographic view of the…
- teleparallelism noun An early attempt at unifying electromagnetism and gravity, according to which a spacetime is characterized by a curvature-free linear…
- temperature noun A property of macroscopic amounts of matter that serves to gauge the average intensity of the random actual motions of the individually…
- tenacity noun The greatest longitudinal stress a substance can bear without tearing asunder, usually expressed with reference to a unit area of the cross…
- tension noun The state of an elastic object which is stretched in a way which increases its length.
- tensor noun A mathematical object that describes linear relations on scalars, vectors, matrices and other algebraic objects, and is represented as a…
- tenthmeter noun A unit for the measurement, such that 10¹⁰ of these units make one meter; the ten millionth part of a millimeter or a tenth of a nanometre.
- terascale adj Describing any phenomenon measured in teravolts or similar measures
- terminal noun The end of a line (wire, cable, etc) where signals or power are either transmitted or received, or a point along the length of a line where…
- terminal velocity noun The speed at which an object in free-fall and not in a vacuum ceases to accelerate downwards because the force of gravity is equal and…
- terminator noun An electrical device that absorbs reflection at the end of a transmission line.
- tethered adj connected (especially a mobile phone to a computer, for use as a wireless modem)
- theoretical physics noun The description of natural phenomena in mathematical form, especially in order to derive the fundamental laws of nature and to derive…
- theoretical plate noun A plate or tray in a distillation column that produces the best possible difference between the liquid and vapor phases in equilibrium with…
- theory of everything noun A supposed theory uniting all fundamental physical phenomena into a single framework.
- theory of relativity noun The theories of special relativity and general relativity, two theories in physics developed mainly by Albert Einstein at the beginning of…
- thermal design power noun The maximum amount of heat generated by a computer chip or component which the cooling system in a computer is designed to dissipate under…
- thermal energy noun The internal energy of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium due to its temperature
- thermal horsepower noun The horsepower of an electric motor, determined by the readings from a thermal-type ammeter.
- thermal radiation noun The electromagnetic radiation emitted from a body as a consequence of its temperature; increasing the temperature of the body increases the…
- thermion noun An electrically charged particle, either an electron or an ion, emitted by a conducting material at high temperatures
- thermistor noun A resistor whose resistance varies rapidly and predictably with temperature and as a result can be used to measure temperature.
- thermobarometer noun An instrument that measured altitudes via the boiling point of water.
- thermocapillary adj Describing the effect of surfaces (and hence capillaries) on heat transfer (and on the movement of bodies by such convection)
- thermocompositional adj Describing systems (such as buoyancy) that results from both thermal and compositional (such as salinity) factors
- thermodynamic adj Of, or relating to thermodynamics.
- thermodynamic equilibrium noun The state of a system in which its energy distribution is such that all parts of the system have the same temperature and no heat flows.
- thermodynamic state noun A set of values (state variables) that together constitute a complete specification of the thermodynamic properties of a system.
- thermodynamic temperature noun Temperature defined in terms of the laws of thermodynamics rather than the properties of a real material: expressed in kelvins.
- thermoelasticity noun The study of the relationship between the elastic properties of a material and its temperature, or between its thermal conductivity and its…
- thermoelectrometry noun The measurement of the electrical characteristics of a substance as it is heated in a controlled manner
- thermography noun Any of several techniques for the remote measurement of the temperature variations of a body, especially by creating images produced by…
- thermogravitational adj Describing flow (or other interaction) under the influence of both a thermal and a gravitational gradient
- thermomagnetic adj Of or pertaining to any of several phenomena occurring when an electrical conductor or semiconductor is placed in a temperature gradient…
- thermomechanical adj Of or pertaining to the variation of the mechanical properties of a material with temperature.
- thermometry noun The science and technology related to the measurement of temperature and the design and construction of thermometers; such measurement.
- thermomolecular adj Describing any of several effects of heat upon collections of molecules, or of the movement of molecules on the distribution of heat.
- thermophysics noun The overall study of the physics as it relates to heat and temperature, encompassing thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and the kinetic…
- thermopile noun An electronic device that converts thermal energy into electrical energy. Usually constructed using a series-combination of thermocouples
- thermostat noun An algorithm used to maintain a simulated system at a set temperature by absorbing or releasing heat
- thermotropic adj Exhibiting different phases at different temperatures
- thickening time noun The total amount of time in which a cement slurry will remain in a fluid state under simulated downhole conditions and is capable of being…
- thin film adj (of a circuit, electronic, etc.) Made with thin films deposited on a ceramic or glass substrate.
- thin-film interference noun The interference of light caused by its reflection from both boundaries of a thin film of a transparent material.
- thixotropy noun The reduction of viscosity with increased shear
- Thomson effect noun The phenomenon where, when in the presence of a gradient in the Seebeck coefficient, driving a current through this gradient produces a…
- thorium-228 noun A radioactive isotope of thorium, 22890Th, having a half-life of 1.9 years; it occurs naturally in small amounts, as member of the…
- thoron noun Radon-220 (22086Rn; symbol Tn), an isotope of radon
- three-way switch noun A type of light switch that can be arranged in pairs to control lights from two locations, as at either end of a stairway or long hallway…
- through variable noun A variable transmitted through an element. For example, the torque applied at one side of a stem is transmitted through this one to the…
- through-hole technology noun Mounting scheme used for electronic components that involves the use of leads on the components that are inserted into holes drilled in…
- throughput noun Synonym of etendue.
- tidal energy noun The energy contained in a tide flowing in or out of an estuary or similar enclosed place, especially that part of the energy that can be…
- tidal force noun Any of various gravitational forces acting on a body caused by variation in the distance between it and a source of a gravitational field…
- TIM noun Initialism of time interval meter.
- time noun A dimension of spacetime with the opposite metric signature to space dimensions; the fourth dimension.
- time alignment noun The process of delaying the sound emanating from one or more drivers in a loudspeaker or sound system to correct the transient response so…