Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A device for observing individual scintillations produced by ionizing radiation, as one consisting of a tube with a magnifying lens at one end and a phosphorescent screen and speck of radioactive salt at the other.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An instrument, invented by Sir William Crookes, exhibiting the fluorescence produced by radium, containing a screen of fluorescent material, usually willemite (zinc silicate), on which a trace of radium is mounted, and a magnifying-glass in front of the screen. In darkness the screen shows a number of scintillating sparks caused by the impact of the radium rays on the willemite.
Wiktionary
- n. an early device used for observing individual nuclear disintegrations
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A small instrument containing a minute particle of a radium compound mounted in front of a fluorescent screen and viewed with magnifying lenses. The tiny flashes produced by the continual bombardment of the screen by the α rays are thus rendered visible.
Etymologies
- Greek spintharis, spark + -scope. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Looking into a spinthariscope is quite a marvelous experience, but there are certain disadvantages.”
“15 The first scintillation counter was already constructed and Crookes proposed to call the instrument a "spinthariscope" from the Greek word spintharis — a scintillation. 16”
“Crookes, a toy called the spinthariscope, on which radium particles impinge upon sulphide of zinc and make it luminous, induced him to associate the two sets of phenomena.”
“In fact spinthariscope views, like all very dim phenomena, look black and white.”
“The spinthariscope, invented and beautifully named by William Crookes in 1903, is a device for seeing individual atoms.”
“Anyway, when I wrote an article about spinthariscopes for my Popular Science column, I needed a way to show in print what the inside of a spinthariscope looks like.”
“For comparison, here is a completely self-contained version of the spinthariscope simulation, showing off just how compact and efficient Mathematica code can be:”
“A spinthariscope consists of a needle, similar to a watch hand, positioned in front of a zinc sulfide luminous screen, with a magnifying glass focused on the screen.”
“An antique spinthariscope, like the one pictured above, can be quite “hot.””
“So, there you have it – quite a nice, full-featured spinthariscope simulation.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spinthariscope’.
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phrontistery-s
from phrontistery.info
sabaton, sabbatarian, sabbulonarium, sabelline, sabin, sable, sabliere, sabot, sabretache, sabulous, saburration, saccade and 1593 more...
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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...
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Potpourri
eponymous, aa, pulchritude, gizmo, macabre, sui generis, solecism, solipsism, eldritch, samizdat, queue, obsequious and 469 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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A few of my favorite definitions from...
I'm especially fond of ones written by Charles Sanders Peirce.
theodolite, illusion, buckie, frank, abstract-concrete, semidiagrammatic, object-object, vortex-filament, dod, parrock, cobler, weather-box and 354 more...
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