2. A capacity for growth or development: In physics, the potential refers to the work that is required to move a unit of positive charge, a magnetic pole, or an amount of mass from a reference point to a designated point in a static electric, magnetic, or gravitational field.
3. Etymology: from Latin potentia, "power."
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2. The capacity of a population of living organisms to increase under ideal and optimal environmental conditions.
Environmental factors; such as, limitation of resources, predation, and disease mean that the biotic potential is seldom realized.
2. A scalar point function equal to the work per unit charge done against the Coulomb force in transferring a particle bearing an infinitesimal positive charge from infinity to a point in the field of a specific charge distribution.
Similarly, a magnetic potential exists at every point of a magnetic field, measured by the work than is needed to move a unit magnetic pole from one point in the field to another point.
2. The potential measured by the energy of a unit positive charge at a point expressed relative to an equipotential surface that has zero potential, generally the surface of the earth.3. The work which must be done against electric forces to bring a unit charge from a reference point to the point in question.
The reference point is located at an infinite distance, or, for practical purposes, at the surface of the earth or some other large conductor.
2. Energy which is possessed by electric charges because of their positions in an electrostatic field.
2. The instantaneous voltage of an electrode with respect to the cathode of an electron tube.
3. The voltage existing between an electrode and the solution or electrolyte in which it is immersed.
2. The difference in potential between an electrode and the immediately adjacent electrolyte, expressed in terms of some standard electrode difference.
2. A tank in which voltages are applied to an enlarged scale model of an electron-tube system or a reduced scale model of an aerodynamic system immersed in a poorly conducting liquid.
The equipotential lines between electrodes are traced with measuring probes, as an aid to electron-tube design.
It is also used as an aid to electron-tube design or in computing ideal fluid flow.
2. A collective name for a scalar potential, which reduces to the electrostatic potential in a time-independent system, and the vector potential for the magnetic field.
The electric and magnetic fields can be written in terms of these potentials.
2. At any point in an electron stream, the time average of the potential difference between that point and the electron-emitting surface.
2. The difference in an electrical charge between two points in a circuit expressed in volts of an electrode or as negative with respect to the hydrogen electrode.
2. An electrode's potential stated as positive in relation to the standard potential of the hydrogen electrode that is established at zero.
2. The potential developed by cells as a result of metabolic activity and circuited (path for electrical current to flow) through surrounding tissue.
2. The energy required o remove completely the weakest bound electron from its ground state in an atom or molecule so that the resulting ion is also in its ground state.
3. Amount of energy required to remove an electron from an isolated atom or molecule.
There is an ionization potential for each successive electron removed, though that associated with removing the first (most loosely held) electron is most commonly used.
The ionization potential of an element is a measure of its ability to enter into chemical reactions requiring ion formation or donation of electrons and is related to the nature of the chemical bonding in the compounds formed by elements.
2. A transformer utilized o transform voltage with little or no current.
3. A small step-up transformer used for increasing the sensitivity for an AC voltmeter.
4. An instrument transformer that has a primary winding connected in parallel with a circuit in which the voltage is to be measured or controlled.
2. Electrokinetic potential refers to the potential developed across any interface separating two phases as a result of the accumulation of electrons in one phase and the loss of electrons in the other.
3. Bioelectric potential refers to the difference of electric potential between the inside and the outside of a cell.
4. The ratio of the zetacrit to the hematocrit, used as an indicator of the red blood cell sedimentation rate.
5. The potential developed across any interface separating two phases as a result of the accumulation of electrons in one phase and the loss of electrons in the other direction.
An action potential is a variation in potential (from about -60 to +45 millivolts) that accompanies the passage of sodium and potassium ions across the membrane.
A car at the top of a hill has potential energy because of its position. It can turn its potential energy into kinetic energy by going down the slope.
With all the news in the media, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is rapidly becoming a phobia that is spreading panic around the world. Consider the following headlines:
1. SARS Alarmism, When Fear Is A Virus: First there was denial, then sluggish response›and now irrational fear.
2. Fear Aiding Spread of Sickness, Health Officials Say: The care of many patients with a mysterious respiratory illness is being seriously jeopardized because nurses and other health care workers are staying home and refusing to treat them, officials at the World Health Organization said.
3. SARS: From China’s Secret to A Worldwide Alarm: Last November in Foshan, a small industrial city in Guangdong province in southern China, a businessman became desperately ill with an unusual type of pneumonia. Doctors could not identify the germ that was making him sick. Omniously, although pneumonia is not usually very contagious, the four health workers who treated him also fell gravely ill with the same disease.
4. In Hong Kong, Fast-moving SARS sets off alarms: A fast-growing cluster of killer pneumonia infections in a Hong Kong housing estate fueled fears that the disease known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, may be more contagious than experts believed.
5. Fear of Respiratory Disease Stymies Swiss Jewelry Fair—Many Exhibitors Barred by Medical Authorities: When Swiss health officials decided last week, just before the show was to begin, that exhibitors and buyers from places affected by SARS would not be allowed to attend because of concerns about spreading the virus, the show became a debacle.
6. SARS Could Slow Asia Industry—Fall in Business Trips Threatens China’s Computer Sector: In Hong Kong, companies and consumers bought every desktop, laptop and notebook computer theY could find as more and more people worked from home often with their employers’ encouragement, for fear of becoming infected if they showed up at their work stations.
7. Fear of War and Illness Hurt Asia Travel: The war in Iraq and the outbreak of a mysterious respiratory ailment that began in China are combining to wreak havoc on tourism in Asia. “This has definitely affected the city,” said Tina Liu, communication manager at the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai. “We’re experiencing cancellations›more from the virus than the war.”
8. Thousands Quarantined in Beijing to Curb SARS: China implemented a sweeping quarantine on thousands of Beijing residents who have had contact with suspected carriers of a highly infectious respiratory illness, as the Communist government began using its massive police powers to combat a national health crisis. Dense crowds of temporary laborers descended on major train stations seeking emergency passage out of the city.
9. Fear of SARS and Fear Itself: We’re all within the reach of fear; fear of the unknown and the half known. Every day brings news of the spread of the killer virus. You could say that this is all alarmist nonsense. More people die from diarrhea or flu than SARS, and the risk to any particular individual is small; but one person taking the disease into Hong Kong practically crippled the health system there. One person brought SARS into Toronto and shut down two hospitals. More devastating than the human cost of the virus is the damage it is inflicting on fragile economies of all kinds.
There is much more that could be presented here, but it should be sufficient to convince you that there is a SARSphobia which has spread throughout the world.