Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The production of light as a result of the passing of sound waves through a liquid medium. The sound waves cause the formation of bubbles that emit bright flashes of light when they collapse.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun physics The emission of short bursts of
light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited bysound .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sonoluminescence.
Examples
-
Their goal was to capture a fleeting phenomenon called sonoluminescence, and it would require an unusual medium — large amounts of xenon-infused sulfuric acid.
Vitriolic Artists Send Visitors on a Sulfuric Acid Trip 2008
-
After five minutes in total darkness (to let everyone's eyes adjust), the audience is treated to a live demonstration of sonoluminescence, complete with the sound of the bubbles imploding.
Vitriolic Artists Send Visitors on a Sulfuric Acid Trip 2008
-
Suslick and Flannigan first observed super-bright sonoluminescence in 2005 by sending ultrasound waves through sulfuric acid solutions to create bubbles.
innovations-report 2010
-
However, Suslick emphasized that his group has not observed evidence that fusion takes place during sonoluminescence, as some have theorized possible.
innovations-report 2010
-
Under the right conditions, these bubbles implode spectacularly, emitting light and reaching very high temperatures, a phenomenon called sonoluminescence.
innovations-report 2010
-
Eddie Kasalivich, the hero of Chain Reaction, is an undergraduate machinist who once blew up a laboratory and who now has the good luck of being part of the hydrogen separation, sonoluminescence experiment headed by 60-year-old Dr. Alistair Barkley.
Wordplayer commented on the word sonoluminescence
Isn't it amazing that sound can create light? We live in a strange world.
July 9, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word sonoluminescence
This is one of the reasons I adore mantis shrimp.
Edit: And the fact that I can write that here is one of the reasons I adore this site.
July 10, 2011
alexz commented on the word sonoluminescence
this word and the effect is the topic of today's Minute Physics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yHDeKFW8j8
June 4, 2013
qms commented on the word sonoluminescence
To mantis shrimp the trick’s no feat,
Just means to get the stuff to eat.
They teach us no lessons
In sonoluminescence.
The shrimp is an artless synaesthete.
February 1, 2018