Terms starting with M
70 terms · page 2 of 3
Malleability
A material's physical ability to deform plastically under compressive stress without cracking, typically tested by hammering or rolling…
OpticsMalus's Law
The law stating that intensity of linearly polarized light transmitted through an analyzer is proportional to the squared cosine of the…
Geophysics & Environmental PhysicsMantle Convection
The slow, highly viscous thermal convection currents within Earth's solid silicate mantle transporting internal core heat toward the…
Condensed Matter & Materials PhysicsMartensitic Transformation
A rapid, diffusionless solid-state phase transformation driven by collective lattice shear displacement of atoms.
Foundations of PhysicsMass
A fundamental intrinsic property of matter that quantifies both the amount of substance in an object and its inertia (resistance to…
Nuclear & Particle PhysicsMass Defect
The difference between the total mass of an atom's individual free nucleons and the actual smaller mass of the bound atomic nucleus.
Astrophysics, Cosmology & RelativityMass-Energy Equivalence
The fundamental relativistic principle stating that mass and energy are directly proportional and interchangeable physical quantities.
Mathematical & Computational PhysicsMatrix Mechanics
An algebraic formulation of quantum mechanics created by Werner Heisenberg in 1925 expressing physical observables as infinite-dimensional…
Foundations of PhysicsMatter
Anything that possesses mass, occupies volume, and is composed of fundamental particles such as quarks and leptons.
Classical MechanicsMaximum Height
The maximum vertical elevation reached by a projectile above its launch level, where vertical velocity momentarily becomes zero.
Thermodynamics & Statistical PhysicsMaxwell Relations
A set of thermodynamic equations derived from equality of second partial derivatives of thermodynamic potentials (U, H, F, G).
Electromagnetism & ElectronicsMaxwell's Equations
The set of four fundamental partial differential equations that unify electricity, magnetism, and optics into classical electrodynamics.
Thermodynamics & Statistical PhysicsMaxwell-Boltzmann Distribution
The probability distribution describing particle speeds in an ideal gas in thermal equilibrium.
Thermodynamics & Statistical PhysicsMean Free Path
The average distance traveled by a moving gas particle between successive collisions with other particles.
Nuclear & Particle PhysicsMean Life
The average expected lifetime of a radioactive nucleus before undergoing radioactive decay.
Classical MechanicsMechanical Advantage
The factor by which a simple machine multiplies input effort force to overcome load resistance.
Classical MechanicsMechanical Energy
The sum of kinetic energy and potential energy in a physical system.
Biophysics & Medical PhysicsMedical Lasers
Laser devices engineered for surgical cutting, tissue coagulation, and photomedical treatments exploiting specific light-tissue absorption…
Biophysics & Medical PhysicsMedical Linear Accelerator (LINAC)
A high-energy medical accelerator generating megavoltage X-ray photon or electron beams for external beam radiation cancer therapy.
Biophysics & Medical PhysicsMedical Ultrasound
A non-invasive diagnostic imaging modality using high-frequency acoustic waves (2–15 MHz) to image soft tissue reflection interfaces.
Condensed Matter & Materials PhysicsMeissner Effect
The active expulsion of magnetic flux from the interior of a superconductor as it cools below its critical temperature T_c.
Biophysics & Medical PhysicsMembrane Potential
The electrical potential difference across a biological cell membrane produced by asymmetric ion concentration gradients.
Nuclear & Particle PhysicsMesons
Hadronic subatomic particles composed of one valence quark and one valence antiquark bound by gluons.
Condensed Matter & Materials PhysicsMetamaterials
Artificially engineered composite structures designed with subwavelength resonant features that display electromagnetic properties not…