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 6 of 32: from “clocked” to “Coulomb barrier”.
- clocked adj Electronically running at a particular rate; governed by a repetitive time signal.
- close verb To move to a position allowing electricity to flow.
- closed adj In a position allowing electricity to flow.
- closed system noun A physical system whose interaction with its environment is limited to particular types of transfer, so that certain quantities are…
- coaxial cable noun A transmission line, consisting of a conducting wire surrounded by an insulated spacer, surrounded by a cylindrical conducting sheath; used…
- cobalt-60 noun An isotope of cobalt, 6027Co, with a half-life of 5.2 years; it beta-decays into nickel-60 (⁶⁰Ni) and is a potent source of gamma rays.
- coefficient of friction noun The ratio between (1) the magnitude of the force of friction which a surface produces on an object (moving along the surface or being…
- coelectron noun A positive free ion left behind when other electrons have joined onto other ions and become negative.
- coercivity noun The intensity of the magnetic field which must be applied in order to reduce the magnetization of a ferromagnetic material to zero after…
- coherence noun The property of having the same wavelength and phase.
- coherence time noun The time over which a propagating wave may be considered coherent, meaning that its phase is, on average, predictable.
- coherent adj Of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase, as light in a laser.
- cohesion noun Various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together.
- cohesive energy noun The difference between the average energy of the free atoms and that of the atoms of a solid (especially a crystal).
- coil noun A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.
- cold cathode noun A type of cathode that does not use a heating element to produce emission of cathode rays (electrons), beyond base thermionic emission…
- coldness noun The reciprocal of absolute temperature.
- collector noun The amplified terminal on a bipolar junction transistor.
- collider noun Any of several forms of particle accelerator in which two opposing beams of particles collide.
- collimator noun An optical device that generates a parallel beam of light. Often used to compensate for laser beam divergence.
- collision noun Any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. In a collision, physical contact of two bodies…
- collision time noun Of any two particles, the time interval between the beginning of a timestep to the moment of their collision and is calculated from their…
- collisionless adj That does not involve a collision between particles, bodies, plasmas or waves.
- color noun A property of quarks, with three values called red, green, and blue, which they can exchange by passing gluons; color charge.
- color charge noun In the Standard Model of particle physics, a property possessed by quarks, antiquarks, and gluons that determine rules for how these…
- color coordinate noun Each value in a set of coordinates representing the position of a color in a color space.
- color temperature noun A property of a light source: the temperature of an ideal black body radiator that radiates light of a color comparable to that of the…
- coma noun A defect characterized by diffuse, pear-shaped images that in an ideal image would appear as points.
- comagnetometer noun A sensitive magnetometer that measures the nuclear spin precession of a material containing two different nuclear spins; they may be used…
- comatic adj Of or pertaining to coma (the distortion of a lens).
- combinational logic noun A form of digital circuit logic where the current outputs are entirely a function of the current inputs, without having a memory of…
- combined cycle adj using multiple thermodynamic cycles so that the overall effect is greater than the sum of the parts
- combined gas law noun a combination of Boyle's law and Charles's law which states that the product of the volume and pressure of an ideal gas divided by its…
- commensurate adj Describing a crystal in which every atom or molecule is placed in the same relative position
- communicating vessel noun One vessel in a system of containers filled with a homogeneous fluid, connected at the base and subjected to the same atmospheric pressure.
- commutate verb To reverse the direction of (a current).
- commutation noun The reversal of an electric current.
- compactification noun Any modification of a theory such that an infinite parameter becomes finite.
- compactify verb To adjust a theory so as to render finite or periodic (a theoretical space-time dimension).
- complement noun The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
- complementary adj Pertaining to pairs of properties in quantum mechanics that are inversely related to each other, such as speed and position, or energy and…
- composition noun The compounding of two velocities or forces into a single equivalent velocity or force.
- compound pendulum noun Any swinging rigid body free to rotate about a fixed horizontal axis, distinguished from the ideal simple pendulum.
- compress verb To make a pulse or particle bunch shorter by applying dispersion to it.
- compressibility noun The product of pressure and molar volume divided by the product of the gas constant and the absolute temperature.
- Compton effect noun The increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the energy, of photons (especially of X-rays and gamma rays) when scattered…
- Compton scattering noun The increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the energy, of photons (especially of X-rays and gamma rays) when scattered…
- Comptonization noun The result of the Compton effect; particularly, the redistribution of the energies of photons scattered by electrons in space
- conceptual physics noun a study and description of properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy in conceptual non-mathematical form with emphasis…
- concordance cosmology noun A model of the universe that assumes a minimum number of parameters, especially the Lambda-CDM model.
- condensate noun A liquid that is the product of condensation of a gas, i.e. of steam.
- condensation noun The conversion of a gas to a liquid.
- condensed matter noun Any form of matter, such as a solid or liquid, in which there are strong interactions between neighbouring atoms
- condenser noun A capacitor.
- conductimetric adj Of or pertaining to the measurement of conductivity
- conduction noun The conveying of heat or electricity through material.
- conduction band noun The range of electron energies in an insulator or semiconductor in which electrons can move freely and transport charge.
- conductivity noun The reciprocal of resistivity
- conductometry noun Measurement of the electrical conductivity of a solution during the course of a chemical reaction. It is the determination of the quantity…
- conductor noun Something that can transmit electricity, heat, light, or sound.
- configuration noun The arrangement of electrons in an atom, molecule, or other physical structure like a crystal.
- confocal adj Having the same foci.
- conformal optics noun A method of designing optical systems in which the conformation of the lenses is chosen to optimize its interaction with the local…
- connect time noun The amount of time that a circuit is in use, usually in a circuit-switched environment.
- connect up verb To join to a network or supply.
- connector noun A device (or, more precisely, a mating pair of devices, often a plug and a socket) for connecting together two wires, cables, or hoses…
- conservation noun lack of change in a measurable property of an isolated physical system (conservation of energy, mass, momentum, electric charge, subatomic…
- conservation law noun Any of several laws that hold that some physical property remains constant in a closed system regardless of other changes that take place.
- conservation of mass noun A conservation law of classical physics that states that the total mass of a closed system remains constant regardless of the chemical or…
- conservative adj Neither creating nor destroying a given quantity.
- conservative force noun A force the work done by which is independent of the path taken and depends only on the initial and final positions of the object…
- conserve verb To remain unchanged during a process
- constringence noun A measure of a material's dispersion (variation of refractive index with wavelength) in relation to the refractive index.
- contact noun A device designed for repetitive connections.
- contact line noun The line where a liquid, gas, and solid meet.
- contactive adj Produced by the contact of air with an object (such as the sound produced by blowing over the lip of a bottle), as opposed to being…
- continuum hypothesis noun The assumption, for the purposes of mathematical modelling, that the material being studied is a continuous mass rather than being composed…
- continuum mechanics noun A branch of mechanics that deals with the deformation of and transmission of forces through materials modeled as a continuous medium rather…
- controller noun Any electric or mechanical device for controlling a circuit or system.
- convection noun The transmission of heat in a fluid by the circulation of currents.
- converter noun A device that changes voltage or frequency, for example one that converts alternating current to direct current.
- convex lens noun A lens having at least one convex surface, such that light passing through it may be brought to a focus.
- Cooper pair noun A pair of electrons (or other fermions), of opposite spin, whose theorised behaviour is the basis of the BCS theory of superconductivity.
- coordinate time noun The time between two events as measured by an observer using that observer's own method of assigning a time to an event.
- core noun An atomic nucleus plus inner electrons (i.e., an atom, except for its valence electrons).
- core loss noun Energy lost by hysteresis, eddy currents, or other anomalies in the core of an electrical device such as an armature, inductor…
- Coriolis force noun A fictitious force that acts on objects in motion within a frame of reference that rotates with respect to an inertial frame.
- corona noun A luminous appearance caused by corona discharge, often seen as a bluish glow in the air adjacent to pointed metal conductors carrying high…
- corona discharge noun The ionization of air (or any other fluid) surrounding an electrically energized conductor, as a result of a strong electric field.
- corpus noun A structure of a special character or function in the animal body.
- correlation energy noun The difference between the actual energy of a particular energy level of an atom or molecule and that calculated by the Hartree-Fock…
- correlator noun A type of device used to compare two signals
- corrugated lens noun A type of lens where concentric portions are cut out from the surface to lessen the weight without affecting the focal power.
- cosmic censorship noun The hypothesis that Einstein's general relativity theory singularities are always hidden from the remote observer, and are only visible as…
- cosmic time noun The measure of time by a physical clock with zero peculiar velocity in the absence of matter overdensities or underdensities; commonly used…
- cosmochronometer noun Any process (such as forms of radioactive decay) that may be used to determine the age of an astronomical object.
- cosmological constant noun A term added by Albert Einstein to his equations of general relativity in order to account for a supposed static universe, since used to…
- costate noun An equation or variable related to the state equation of an optimal control problem in a dynamical system.
- Couette flow noun The flow of a viscous fluid in the space between two surfaces, one of which is moving tangentially relative to the other, imposing a shear…
- Coulomb barrier noun the barrier between two atomic nuclei, due to Coulomb repulsion, that has to be overcome for nuclear fusion to proceed