Acoustic impedance is a fundamental property of a medium that describes how much resistance it offers to the propagation of sound waves. It is defined as the ratio of the acoustic pressure (the sound pressure level) to the particle velocity (the speed of the particles in the medium due to the sound wave) at a specific frequency.
Absorptance, also known as absorptivity, is a measure of the fraction of incident radiation (such as light or electromagnetic waves) that is absorbed by a material or surface rather than being reflected or transmitted. It is a dimensionless quantity and is typically expressed as a value between 0 and 1, where: - A value of 0 means that no incident radiation is absorbed (the material is fully reflective).
API gravity is a measure of the density of petroleum liquids relative to water. It is expressed in degrees API (°API), which is a specific gravity scale developed by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The API gravity is used to categorize crude oil and other petroleum products based on their density and is an important factor in the oil and gas industry. The formula for calculating API gravity is: \[ \text{API Gravity} = \frac{141.
ANSI/ASA S1.1-2013 is a standard developed by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) in accordance with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines. The title of the standard is "Acoustical Terminology." This document provides definitions and explanations for key terminology used in the fields of acoustics, noise control, and sound measurement.
Wikipedia has several categories that are named after physical quantities, which help organize articles based on various aspects of physics. Categories often include: 1. **Length** - Articles related to distance measurements and units of length. 2. **Mass** - Information about mass and related concepts, as well as units like kilograms. 3. **Time** - Topics related to time measurement, time intervals, etc. 4. **Temperature** - Articles concerning temperature measurement and scales.
Visibility generally refers to the degree to which something can be seen or perceived. The term can have different meanings depending on the context: 1. **Weather**: In meteorology, visibility refers to the distance one can clearly see. Poor visibility can result from fog, rain, snow, or dust, affecting driving and outdoor activities. 2. **Business/Marketing**: In a business context, visibility often refers to how easily a brand, product, or service can be noticed by potential customers.
Tensors are mathematical objects that generalize scalars and vectors to higher dimensions and are used to describe various physical quantities in science and engineering. They can be thought of as multi-dimensional arrays that transform according to specific rules under change of coordinates. Here are some key points about tensors as physical quantities: 1. **Definition**: A tensor is a mathematical entity that can be represented as a multi-dimensional array of numbers.
Sound measurements refer to the quantitative assessment of sound characteristics and properties, primarily using specialized equipment and methodologies. These measurements can encompass various aspects of sound, including intensity, frequency, duration, and quality. Here are some key concepts involved in sound measurement: 1. **Sound Level**: Measured in decibels (dB), which quantifies the intensity of sound relative to a reference level. It provides a way to express how loud a sound is perceived to be.
The International System of Units (SI) defines seven base quantities, each associated with a specific physical property. These base quantities form the foundation for all other derived units in the system. The seven SI base quantities and their corresponding units are: 1. **Length** - Base Quantity: Length - Unit: Meter (m) 2. **Mass** - Base Quantity: Mass - Unit: Kilogram (kg) 3.
Radioactivity refers to the process by which unstable atomic nuclei lose energy by emitting radiation. The key quantities related to radioactivity include: 1. **Activity (A)**: This is a measure of the rate at which a radioactive substance undergoes decay. Activity is typically expressed in becquerels (Bq), where 1 Bq equals one decay event per second. Another unit of measurement is the curie (Ci), where 1 Ci is equivalent to 3.
Physical constants are quantities in physics that are universally recognized and remain constant in nature, regardless of the conditions or situations in which they are observed. These constants serve as fundamental building blocks in various scientific equations and theories, providing a framework for understanding physical phenomena. Some well-known examples of physical constants include: 1. **Speed of Light (c)**: Approximately \( 3.00 \times 10^8 \) meters per second. It represents the speed at which light travels in a vacuum.
Logarithmic scales are a way of measuring and representing values that can cover a wide range, where each unit increase on the scale corresponds to a multiplication of the quantity rather than a simple addition. This means that on a logarithmic scale, each step represents a power of a base value, typically 10 (common logarithm) or \( e \) (natural logarithm).
Kinematic properties refer to the characteristics of motion of an object without considering the forces that cause the motion. In kinematics, we analyze how objects move in terms of their position, velocity, acceleration, and time. Here are some key kinematic properties: 1. **Displacement**: The change in position of an object. It is a vector quantity, which means it has both magnitude and direction.
Force is a fundamental concept in physics that refers to an interaction that causes an object to undergo a change in speed, direction, or shape. It can be thought of as a push or pull applied to an object. Force is a vector quantity, which means it has both magnitude and direction.
The electric dipole moment is a measure of the separation of positive and negative charges within a system. It is a vector quantity that indicates the strength and direction of an electric dipole.
Capacitance is a measure of a capacitor's ability to store electric charge. It is defined as the amount of electric charge \( Q \) stored per unit voltage \( V \) across the capacitor.
Acceleration is a vector quantity that measures the rate of change of velocity of an object over time. It indicates how quickly an object is speeding up, slowing down, or changing direction.
Hardness generally refers to the resistance of a material to deformation, particularly permanent deformation, scratching, cutting, or indentation. It is an important property in materials science and engineering, as it often correlates with durability and wear resistance. Hardness can be measured in various ways, depending on the material being tested. Some common methods include: 1. **Mohs Hardness Scale**: A qualitative scale ranging from 1 to 10 that ranks minerals based on their ability to scratch one another.
In optics, "gloss" refers to the shine or luster of a surface, which is primarily determined by how that surface reflects light. Glossy surfaces have a smooth texture that allows for specular reflection, meaning that they reflect light in a coherent direction, resulting in a shiny appearance. This is in contrast to matte surfaces, which have a rougher texture that scatters light in many directions, leading to a dull appearance.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact