noun[mass noun] Physics
Luminescence excited in a substance by the passage of sound waves through it.
- For 70 years, physicists have puzzled over sonoluminescence, a process where sound waves create thousands of hot, luminous bubbles in water.
- A bubble's collapse can be extremely violent, as revealed in light emission, called sonoluminescence.
- During typical sonoluminescence experiments, spectral emission temperatures range up to tens of thousands of kelvins, and the rapidly imploding bubble walls can generate internal shock waves under certain conditions.
- Example sentences
- The final signature of bubble fusion is the coincidence between the sonoluminescent light flashes from collapsing bubbles and the neutron emission.
- In a controversial report last March, researchers offered evidence that such a so-called sonoluminescent bubble's implosion attains temperatures and pressures high enough to make atomic nuclei fuse together.
- Using this theory, temperatures inside the sonoluminescent bubble can be expected to reach 10 Kelvin.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: sono|lumin¦es¦cence
Definition of sonoluminescence in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.