Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A stable elementary particle in the lepton class having a negative electric charge of 1 elementary unit (about 1.602 × 10−19 coulombs) and a mass of about 9.11 × 10−28 grams. Electrons are found in shells orbiting the nuclei of atoms and can also move freely through space as cathode rays in a cathode-ray tube or as beta particles emitted by radioactive nuclei, or flow in a current through a conducting material impelled by an electric potential difference.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as electrum.
  • noun In phys. chew., the definite charge of electricity which is associated with a univalent ion. Sometimes called an atom of electricity. See electricity.
  • noun According to a recent hypothesis, a minute particle detached from an atom of a gas by certain agencies, as when the gas is carrying an electric current.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun archaic Amber; also, the alloy of gold and silver, called electrum.
  • noun (Physics & Chem.) one of the fundamental subatomic particles, having a negative charge and about one thousandth the mass of a hydrogen atom. The electron carries (or is) a natural unit of negative electricity, equal to 3.4 x 10-10 electrostatic units, and is classed by physicists as a lepton. Its mass is practically constant at the lesser speeds, but increases due to relativistic effects as the velocity approaches that of light. Electrons are all of one kind, so far as is known. Thus far, no structure has been detected within an electron, and it is probably one of the ultimate composite constituents of all matter. An atom or group of atoms from which an electron has been detached has a positive charge and is called a cation. Electrons are projected from the cathode of vacuum tubes (including television picture tubes) as cathode rays and from radioactive substances as the beta rays. Previously also referred to as corpuscle, an obsolete term. The motion of electrons through metallic conductors is observed as an electric current. A particle identical to the electron in mass and most other respects, but having a positive instead of a negative charge, is called a positron, or antielectron

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun physics The subatomic particle having a negative charge and orbiting the nucleus; the flow of electrons in a conductor constitutes electricity.
  • noun chemistry, obsolete Alloys of magnesium and other metals, like aluminum or zinc, that were manufactured by the German company Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an elementary particle with negative charge

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[electr(ic) + (i)on.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (elektron, "amber"). See also electric + -on.

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Examples

  • The proton and the neutron have a diameter of 10-15m (a femtometre or a millionth of a millionth of a millimetre) and the electron is at least 1,000 times smaller.

    The Nobel Prize in Physics 1992 1992

  • Its resolving power could be considered theoretically unlimited, since the electron is a pointlike particle, However, according to quantum mechanics, every particle has wave characteristics which introduce an uncertainty into the determination of its position.

    Press Release: The 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics 1986

  • It had been known since long that the electron is a small magnet.

    Nobel Prize in Physics 1955 - Presentation Speech 1964

  • These are through quantum mechanistic lan - w h o a u t h o r s the "Master Pro - d o w n into more subtle units of sub-units of a super-electron. guage codes. grams" for the Creator Gods. space which we call the electron 28 Man's sub-electrons are con - 35 These codes work through Hence, our Son universe is a Light and sub-electron spaces; these are densations of mesons and fractional multiple manifestations of s u b - fabric made u p of many conscious - interconnected by wormholes.charges. electrons within both physical and

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows czaragon 2009

  • Sometimes an electron from a high-energy level drops to a lower energy level.

    A nice blog review of Lost in Translation ewillett 2010

  • Sometimes an electron from a high-energy level drops to a lower energy level.

    The laser at 50 ewillett 2010

  • Shortly after the virus isolation, my co-workers and I were able to show that it was not immunologically related to HTLV, and in electron microscopy, it was very different from HTLV viral particles.

    Luc Montagnier - Autobiography 2009

  • A theoretical model for the appearance of an electron is just that.

    Think Progress » Nelson signals intent to join Republican filibuster of Obama labor board nominee. (Updated) 2010

  • The spin of an electron is a well-known example (it can only have projections +1/2 or − 1/2 on any direction in space).

    Are Changes Brewing and How Does the Mind Fit In? 2008

  • An electron is as point-like an object as can be: it has no internal structure as far as we know, except possibly on the Planck scale (for which you need string theory and that's again quantum mechanics).

    Are Changes Brewing and How Does the Mind Fit In? 2008

Comments

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  • Used as a misspelling of "election."

    May 6, 2009