As
- As
- A brittle, crystalline solid which tarnishes readily in air and burns in oxygen.
- As Welded
- The condition of weld metal, welded joints, and weldments after welding and prior to any subsequent thermal, mechanical, or chemical treatments.
- as
- Abbreviation of attosecond a time of 10-18seconds.
- As2O3
- Chemical formula for Arsenic III Oxide.
- As2O5
- Chemical formula for Arsenic V Oxide.
- ASA Number
- A measure of the speed of the photographic emulsion.
- Asbestos
- This description covers a number of fibrous silicate minerals such as calcium magnesium silicate.
- Asbestosis
- Fibrosis of the lungs caused by inhalation of asbestos fibres.
- As-Cast Condition
- Casting without subsequent heat treatment.
- Ascendent
- A vector with magnitude equal to the maximum spatial rate of change of that function at a given point at a given time and directed toward increasing values of the function along the line of maximum change.
- ASCII
- Coding for text files.
- Ash
- A very tough and elastic timber used for oars, blocks and pulleys, spokes of wheels and milk-pails.
- Ash Flow
- A turbulent mixture of gas and rock fragments, most of which are ash-sized particles, ejected violently from a crater or fissure.
- Ash Frame
- On some old cars the bodywork was built with a wooden frame, normally made from Ash, with panels attached to the wooden frame.
- Ash
- The mineral content of a product remaining after complete combustion.
- AsH3
- Chemical formula for Hydrogen Arsenide.
- Ashes of Tin
- Old name for Tin IV Oxide.
- Ashlar Masonry
- Uniform, rectangular blocks of stone with parallel faces, as used in the construction of classical Greek and Roman buildings.
- Ashpan
- A container beneath the furnace, catching ash and clinker that falls through the firebars.
- ASIC
- An abbreviation of Application Specific Integrated Circuit.
- ASME
- Abbreviation of American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
- Asn
- The inverse of sine. Note that asn(A)=sin-1(x).
- Asparagine
- A natural amino acid that is the amide of aspartic acid.
- Aspartic Acid
- A nonessential amino acid that is abundant in molasses.
- Aspect Ratio
- For a graphics device it is the ratio of the screen dimensions, normally defined as vertical screen dimension divided by horizontal screen dimension.
- Asphalt
- A black sticky semi-solid material mainly bitumen with minerals, occurs naturally, but made artificially and used in the construction of roads and buildings.
- Aspherical
- Not spherical. To reduce spherical aberration, a lens may be altered slightly so that one or more surfaces are aspherical.
- Aspin Engine
- A rotary valve engine developed by Frank Aspin.
- Aspirin
- Common name for Acetyl-Salicyclic Acid.
- Assay
- A quantitative determination of the metal in an ore or alloy.
- Assemble
- The action of putting something together from a number of component parts.
- Assembler
- A computer program that converts symbolic assembly language programs into
equivalent binary machine language programs.
- Assembly
- A unit made from many parts. May refer to a molecule, machine tool, or any grouping of objects to form a larger entity.
- Assembly Line
- The production line where an assembly is put together from its component parts.
- Asserted High
- The asserted, true, one, or active case of a binary signal is the high or most
positive voltage level.
- Asserted Low
- The asserted, true, one, or active case of a binary signal is the low or less
positive voltage level.
- Associative Property
- When adding or multiplying three numbers, it doesn′t matter if the first two or the last two numbers are added or multiplied first.
- Astable
- A circuit that has no stable state and thus oscillates at
a frequency dependent on component values.
- Astable Multivibrator
- A multivibrator that has no stable state.
- Astatine
- The heaviest halogen and radioactive.
- Asterism
- A group of stars which are traditionally imagined to represent a pattern.
- Asteroids
- These are rocky bodies, the vast majority of which orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
- Asthenosphere
- The shell within the earth, some tens of kilometres below the surface and of undefined thickness.
- Astigmatism
- An aberration, or defect, in a mirror or lens that causes the image of a point to spread out into a line.
- ASTM
- Abbreviation of American Society For Testing Material.
- Astragal
- A moulding, attached to one of a pair of swinging double doors, against which the other door strikes.
- Astrolabe
- An instrument that was used to determine the altitude of objects in the sky.
- Astrometric Position
- The position of a heavenly body on the celestial sphere corrected for aberration but not for planetary aberration.
- Astrometry
- The branch of astronomy concerned with measuring the positions of celestial bodies, such as stars and galaxies, and their real and apparent motions.
- Astronaut
- A person who rides in a space vehicle.
- Astronomic Theory of Glaciation
- Theory based on the changing position of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun.
- Astronomical Constants
- The elements of the orbits of the bodies of the solar system, their masses relative to the sun, their size, shape, orientation, rotation, and inner constitution, and the velocity of light.
- Astronomical Unit
- Defined as the mean distance of the Earth from the Sun.
- Astronomy
- The generic name for the study of the universe around us.
- Astronomy Weblinks
- Lists all Astronomy Weblinks in the Encyclopaedia
- Astrophysics
- The physics of astronomical objects such as stars and galaxies.
- Asymmetric
- A pattern in which one side does not correspond to the other side.
- Asymmetric Capacitor
- A capacitor where the two plates differ in surface area.
- Asymmetric Carbon Atom
- A carbon atom that is covalently bonded to four different groups and thus may exist in two different stereospecific configurations.
- Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
- A method of connecting a computer to the internet over an ordinary phone line using ethernet office networking technology instead of an ordinary modem.
- Asymmetric Waveform
- A waveform that has unequal excursions above and below the horizontal axis.
- Asymmetrical Multivibrator
- A multivibrator that generates rectangular waves.
- Asymmetrical Support
- A rotor support system that does not provide uniform restraint in all radial directions.
- Asynchronous
- The transmission of data between a transmitting and a receiving device that
occurs as a series of zeros and ones.
- Asynchronous Orbit
- One where the satellite does not rotate or move at the same speed as the earth.