Introduction:

It is imperative that science students have a strong grasp of English when learning science, especially physics when the learning medium is English. Unfortunately, in India, students don’t have that spirit. They think that learning a language is not their concern and that it is enough to become technologically savvy. But this author strongly believes that physics students should have an excellent knowledge of English, which will go a long way to enhance and showcase their talents. There is an urgent need to improve vocabulary. For this, they do not need to go in search of various English textbooks. On the contrary, if they understand the literal equivalents of technical terms, their vocabulary will improve a lot. With this intention, the author has ventured to select some technical words, which are not so common in public use and give their literal and general applications. This is the first article in the series that explains some words that start with the alphabet ‘A’.

1. Aberration:

This word is associated with Optics and Sound in Physics. The scientific meaning of this word is the non-convergence of light rays due to the process known as chromatic aberration or difference in focus of marginal rays known as spherical aberration.

This technical word is derived from the word ‘aberrar’, which means to stray or deviate from the right path.

For example: His support for the Nazi front in World War II is an aberration in his patriotic character.

The other technical words related to this word are coma and astigmatism. The word ‘coma’ is commonly used in the medical field as “The patient went into a coma”, which means the patient fell into deep unconsciousness, while in Physics it means a hazy, blurry focus of light.

The word “astigmatism” means a defect in the eye, lens, or mirror, and the word is derived from stigma, which means any special marking, usually having a negative meaning.

Example: They do not give you promotion because there is a stigma in your complaint.

The word aberration is used in sound also with the same meaning as in optics.

When a performer deviates from the normal note (random wanders) we say that there is an aberration. There is a beautiful Sanskrit equivalent for this word found in ‘Apaswaram’ which means the note is on the wrong side.

2. Accretion:

The scientific meaning is ‘mass accumulated by gravitational attraction as in the case of the Black Hole, etc.’

The normal literal meaning is “continuous outward growth,” which is a derivation of the word crescent, meaning ever increasing, as in the case of the phases of the moon, known as crescent.

3. Adiabatic process:

Adiabatic process means any process that occurs without heat entering or leaving the system. Therefore, there is no increase or decrease in temperature. In fact, no heat energy passes ‘through’ the system.

The root of this word is ‘dia’ which means to pass. (The diameter is a straight line through the center point.) Therefore, adiabatic in thermodynamics means that no heat passes through the system.

4.Albedo:

The dictionary meaning is ‘whiteness’, the proportion of light reflected from a planet that gives it the whiteness we observe. The meaning attributed to it in Physics is the relationship between the incident flux reflected by a surface and the one incident on it. It also represents the reflection probability of a reflected neutron from the same surface it entered. It should be noted that the three meanings have only a slight difference and the common is that whiteness is retained.

5.Anemometer:

Anemo means wind and anemometer is an instrument for measuring wind speed. In fact, any word with the prefix ‘anemo’ refers only to wind. Other examples are: anemography, anemology, anemophilia, etc.

6. Watery:

Aqua means water and aqueous is a solution of water.

It should be noted that any word containing aqua is related to ‘water’. Some other words are: aqua fountain, aqua regia, aquarium, etc.

7. Frame:

The root of this word is ‘arm’. Armor is any device for defense. In physics, it means a piece of iron placed on the poles of a magnet, a moving part that indicates the flow of current, and other uses of a similar nature.

8. Asteroid:

Astronomy is the study of the Universe beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. So the prefix ‘astro’ means something with reference to celestial objects like the word Astrophysics. Asteroids are small bodies that revolve around the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In other words, they are minor or descendant planets in Heaven.

9. Audibility:

The word refers to the sense of hearing. Auditorium is the place where we listen to something. Audiovisual education is the apt substitute for the sound and light show.

10. Dimming:

The dictionary meaning is ‘to make thin or slender’. In Physics the word has the same meaning when referring to the weakening of the signals.

11. Avalanche:

This is an excellent English word meaning ‘a mass of precipitating snow, with ice and rock, rolling down the side of a mountain’. One may be surprised to note that this word is used with the same meaning as ‘rain’ of electrons in transistor diodes and other electronic instruments. The diode that uses this effect is known as an ‘avalanche diode’.

Conclusion:

We have looked at some English words starting with alphabet A that are frequently used in Physics along with their dictionary meanings. Word roots were also discussed.

The goal of this article is to raise awareness among readers that technical terms in physics do, in fact, originate solely from grammatical English. Any scholar, whether from the Physics stream or from the Language stream, must develop the habit of delving into the origin of the word with its meaning. If that awareness is created, the purpose of this article is fulfilled.

The author wishes the reader all the best.