Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several radiometric instruments, such as a pyrheliometer, used chiefly for meteorological measurements of terrestrial and solar radiation.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An instrument for measuring the intensity of radiation.
- n. Chemical actinometers measure the energy of radiation by its chemical effects. Bunsen measured the amount of hydrochloric acid made by sunshine from a mixture of hydrogen and chlorin; Marchand measured the amount of carbonic-acid gas liberated from a solution of perchlorid of iron and oxalic acid by the use of his antiphotypimeter. Photographic actinometers measure the intensity of the shade produced on a sensitized plate by an exposure during one unit of time. Vapor actinometers measure the volume of liquid (water, alcohol, or ether) evaporated in a unit of time. Thermal actinometers measure the heating effect of radiation by many different devices: sometimes called pyrheliometers. De Saussure used the simple hot box; Sir John Herschel, a large thermometer-bulb filled with a blue liquid; Pouillet, a measured volume of water inclosed in a blackened cylinder, the temperature of the water being given by a thermometer within it; Crova and Violle, a black-bulb thermometer within a large spherical inclosure kept at uniform temperature; Arago, as modified by Davy, a pair of bright-and black-bulb thermometers each inclosed in a plane-glass spherical envelop from which the air has been exhausted: when exposed to the sunshine the black bulb attains a higher temperature than the bright bulb, and the difference between the two is an index of the amount of heat which penetrates the glass envelop. The complete theory of this action was published by Ferrel in 1885. Langley used a fine wire coated with lamp-black, the intensity of an electric current flowing through the wire being shown by a delicate galvanometer and varying with the temperature of the wire. Hutchins, following Melloni and Tyndall, employed a delicate thermo-electric junction together with a galvanometer; Chwolson, a pair of plates one of which is exposed to the sunshine while the other is in the shade, the difference of temperature being shown by the intensity of a thermo-electric current; and Angström, in his electrically compensated actinometer, two thin strips alternately exposed and shaded, the difference of temperature being measured by the intensity of the electric current needed to bring them both to the same temperature.
Wiktionary
- n. physics A device used to measure the heating power of electromagnetic radiation, especially that of solar radiation.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An instrument for measuring the direct heating power of the sun's rays.
- n. An instrument for measuring the actinic effect of rays of light.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an instrument for measuring the intensity of electromagnetic radiation (usually by the photochemical effect)
Etymologies
- actino- + -meter (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Hope with an "actinometer," and obtained results agreeing quite satisfactorily with those derived by Pouillet from experiments made in”
A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition
“In essence the whole shebang had become a giant actinometer.”
“The mystery was not a new type of infernal machine as they imagined but merely a home-made actinometer!”
Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons Wesel, Sennelager, Klingelputz, Ruhleben
“A selenium actinometer has been described in the _Comptes Rendus_ in a communication from M.”
“For judging long exposures, the use of an actinometer (issued in many inexpensive forms) is helpful.”
“It was very easy work for me and I took several photographs of the ponies plunging along -- the light very strong at 3 (Watkins actinometer).”
“The few actinometer observations which I was enabled to record, were made with two of these instruments constructed by Barrow, and had the bulbs of their thermometers plunged into the fluid of the chamber.”
“The few actinometer observations will be found in another part of the Appendix.”
“Another object was, to bring down specimens of air from different altitudes, for analysis; to try the effect of the actinometer at great elevations; and to note the hygrometric condition.”
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456 Volume 18, New Series, September 25, 1852
“embower ar gorilla housebreak chicanery gnomonic doomsday multitude arizona garrulous humphrey ditch rejoice alluvium converse collocation actinometer diary capricious desk dougherty fasciculate”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘actinometer’.
-
Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
If you want to see the definitions, too, go to
http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
axilla, avalement, argil, argent, argand, arete, aretaics, areometer, areology, arenoid, arenaceous, arefy and 1214 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for actinometer.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.