sonoluminescence
Mar. 21st, 2018 07:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordsonoluminescence (son-uh-loo-muh-NES-uhns) - n., the emission of a flash of light when a high frequency or high intensity sound passes through a liquid.
Specifically, when the sound passes through tiny bubbles in the liquid. The phenomenon is not well understood, but it's clear that somehow the bubbles are being excited, to the point of partial/complete collapse so that high temperatures are generated inside -- high enough to generate light. Pretty freaky stuff. Discovered in 1934 during early work on sonar. Coined from Latin roots sonus, sound + lumin, light + noun-of-action suffix.
---L.
Specifically, when the sound passes through tiny bubbles in the liquid. The phenomenon is not well understood, but it's clear that somehow the bubbles are being excited, to the point of partial/complete collapse so that high temperatures are generated inside -- high enough to generate light. Pretty freaky stuff. Discovered in 1934 during early work on sonar. Coined from Latin roots sonus, sound + lumin, light + noun-of-action suffix.
---L.
