PHYSICS DICTIONARY


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Babinet’s Compensator

It is a device used for producing circular & elliptically polarized light and for their detection.


Back EMF

It is the electromagnetic force in an inductive circuit which acts in such a direction so as to oppose any change of current in the circuit.


Background

Term generally used in nuclear physics. The background radiation refers to the energetic particles reaching earth surface mainly due to cosmic rays comprising neutrons, muons, neutrinos, gamma etc.


Baking

Process in which materials meant for vacuum application are subjected to heat condition to reduce outgassing rate.


Ballistic Galvanometer

A moving coil galvanometer, in which coil has high inertia that indicates presence of an electric charge by single impulse imparted to coil by small instantaneous current, the quantity of electricity that passes being proportional to deflection of coil.


Ballistic Pendulum

A physical pendulum consisting of a large mass suspended from a rod; when it is stuck by a projectile, its displacement is used to measure the projection’s velocity.


Ballistics

Science of mechanics that deals with behavior and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, rockets etc.


Balmer Series

The spectrum of wavelength falling in visible region due to transition of electrons from higher orbits to second orbit is called Balmer series.


Band Spectrum

This spectrum is due to transition of electrons combined with rotatory, translatory and vibration effects of molecules. Hot gases in molecular state produce band spectrum.  It is also called molecular spectra. It consists of bright bands of different colors over dark background. Each band consists of closely spaced lines. The spacing between two bands and also width of the band depends on nature of compound. At very high temperature, the band spectrum changes to line spectrum as the molecules split in to atoms.     

 

Band Theory

Theory which aims at classifying materials as conductors, insulators, semiconductors based on the distribution of electron energy states. In solids, due to proximity of atoms, each distinct atomic state splits into series of closely packed electron states called as electron energy band. There are three types of electron band structures possible at 0 K as per this theory.


Band Width

Term used in amplifier. It is the band of frequencies over which the amplification gain remains constant.


Bar

It is a unit of pressure.


Barns

Unit used for nuclear scattering interactions. It is used to represent the measure of probability of interaction between small particles. The value of one barn is 10-28 m2 and is approximate crossection area of Uranium nucleus.   


Barometer

Instrument invented by Evangelista Torricelli to measure atmospheric pressure and hence for assisting in forecasting weather. 


Bartlett Force

It is type of nuclear force in which there is exchange of spin coordinates but not position coordinates between nucleons.


Baryons

They are a type of Fermions which are heavier than mesons.  They constitute the two nucleons with anti particles & Hyperons. 

or

Fermions whose mass is at least as great as mass of Proton and which can interact strongly are called Baryons.


Battery

A battery is an electrochemical cell which consists of an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte. It is used to provide a static potential for power or release electrical charge when needed.


BCC

It is a crystal structure equivalent to two interpenetrating simple cubic cells. The total number of atoms in unit cell is two. The coordination number is eight.


Beat Frequency

Phenomenon which can be heard when two sound waves of different frequency approach human ear; constructive and destructive interference leads to alternation of soft and loud sound. "The beat frequency equals absolute value of the difference in frequency of the two waves."

PHYSICS DICTIONARY


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Aberration
Defect in images formed by optical system arrangement.

Aberration of Starlight
The phenomenon of apparent displacement of star in the sky due to finite speed of light and motion of earth in its orbit about the sun is known as aberration of starlight.

Abrasive
A hard and wear resistant material that is used to wear, grind or cut away other material.


Abscissa
The horizontal coordinate of a point in a plane Cartesian coordinate system obtained by measuring parallel to the X-axis is called as abscissa.


Absolute Error
The difference between true value and measured value is called as absolute error.


Absolute Humidity
Absolute humidity denotes the amount of humidity in air regardless of the saturation level, expressed as the total mass of water molecules per air volume.


Absolute Permeability
Constant of proportionality between magnetic density and magnetic field strength of a material put in uniform magnetic field.


Absolute permittivity
Permittivity of vacuum is called absolute permittivity and its value is 8.85 x 10-12 F/m.


Absolute pressure
When pressure is measured above absolute zero (or complete vacuum), it is called as absolute pressure.


Absolute Temperature
Temperature measured using Kelvin scale when zero is absolute zero.


Absolute Zero
The temperature at which entropy of a system reaches minimum is referred as absolute zero.


Absorbed Fraction
A term used in internal dosimetry. It is the fraction of photon energy (emitted within a specified volume of material) that is absorbed by volume. The absorbed fraction depends on source distribution, photon energy, size, shape and composition of volume.


Absorbing Power
The ratio of amount of radiations absorbed by the body in a certain time to the amount of radiations incident on it in the same time is called absorbing power of body.


Absorptance
Ratio of amount of radiation absorbed by a surface to the amount of radiation incident upon it is called as absorptance. It is measure of ability of an object to absorb radiation.


Absorption Spectrum
Absorption spectrum is the characteristic property of absorbing material. Using this spectrum, one can identify what are the elements present in absorbing material. It is due to absorption of radiation by matter. Absorption is based on Kirchhoff’s law, which states that a substance which emits particular wavelength of radiation when excited also possess the property of absorbing the same wavelength from incident radiation when unexcited. Absorption spectra consist of dark lines over a bright background. When the white light is passed through the gas in atomic state (say sodium vapor), line absorption spectrum is formed. When white light is passed through molecular gas (say iodine vapor), band absorption spectrum is formed.


Absorption
The optical phenomenon where by the energy of a photon of light is assimilated with in a substance, normally by electronic polarization or by an electron excitation event.


Absorptivity
It is fraction of radiant energy falling upon the body which is absorbed or transformed into heat. This ratio varies with character of the surface and the wave length of incident energy.


Abundance
The ratio of the number of atoms of a specific isotope in a mixture of isotopes of an element to the total number of atoms present is called abundance. It is expressed in percentage.


Acceleration
It is a physical quantity which is defined as rate at which velocity of an object change with time.


Acceleration due to Gravity
The acceleration acquired by body due to gravitational pull is known as acceleration due to gravity.


Accelerator
Device used to accelerate charged particles to gain high energies. They are used in medical applications, making of radio isotopes etc.