-tron, -tronic, -tronics +

(Greek: a suffix referring to a device, tool, or instrument; more generally, used in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments)


A possible allusion to the Greek instrumental suffix, as in árotron, "plow" as spelled in the U.S. or "plough", as spelled by the British; from the Greek stem aroun, "to plow".

The suffix -tron is the result of the combining form extracted from electron, used with nouns or combining forms, principally in the names of electron tubes (ignitron; klystron; magnetron) and of devices for accelerating subatomic particles (cosmotron; cyclotron); also, more generally, in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments (biotron).

cryoelectron microscopy, cryo-electron microscopy (s) (noun); cryoelectron microscopies, cryo-electron microscopies (pl)
An electron microscopic technique that involves freezing the biological sample in order to view the sample with the least possible distortion and the fewest possible artifacts. Abbreviated as cryo-EM.

In cryoelectron microscopy, the freezing of the sample is done in ethane slush to produce vitreous, or non-crystalline, ice. The frozen sample grid is then kept at liquid nitrogen temperature in the electron microscope and digital micrographs are collected with a camera.

The advantages of cryo-EM over traditional EM techniques include the preservation of the sample in a near-native hydrated state without the distortions from stains or fixatives needed for traditional EM. With image processing and averaging of multiple images, cyroelectron microscopy provides high resolution information (below 10 angstroms).

An angstrom is a metric unit of length equal to one ten billionth of a meter (or 0.0001 micron); used to specify wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.

cryoelectronics, cryotronics (plural forms used as singular entries)
A field of engineering that studies the design and functioning of electronics systems, circuits, and devices at temperatures approaching absolute zero (0 Kelvin or -270 degrees Celsius); especially, as applied to the phenomenon of superconductivity.
cryotron
1. A cryogenic device that uses the principle that a varying magnetic field can cause the resistance of a superconducting element to change rapidly between its high normal and low superconductive values: used as a switch and as a computer-memory element.
2. A superconductive device in which current in one or more input circuits magnetically controls the superconducting-to-normal transition in one or more output circuits.
cyclotron (s) (noun), cyclotrons (pl)
1. An accelerator in which particles are propelled in spiral paths by the use of a constant magnetic field.
2. A circular particle accelerator in which charged subatomic particles generated at a central source are accelerated spirally outward in a plane perpendicular to a fixed magnetic field by an alternating electric field.

A cyclotron is capable of generating particle energies between a few million and several tens of millions of electron volts.

3. An accelerator that imparts energies of several million electron-volts to rapidly moving particles.
dynatron
1. A vacuum tube device which has three electrodes: a thermionic cathode, a perforated anode, and a supplementary anode or plate.
2. A multi-electrode thermionic valve often used as an oscillator.
electrical scanning, electronic scanning, electronic raster scanning
1. Scanning by electronic methods so that substantially uniform coverage of an area is provided by a predetermined pattern of scanning lines.
2. Scanning in which an electron beam, controlled by electric or magnetic fields, is swept over the area under examination, in contrast to mechanical or electromechanical scanning.
3. In telecommunications, the technique of scanning a surface to reproduce or to transmit a picture.
4. In facsimile, a method of scanning in which the motion of the scanning spot is completely controlled by electronic procedures.
electro-acoustic music, electroacoustic music (s) (noun) (no pl)
The electronic generation and processing of audio signals or the electronic processing of natural sounds, and the manipulation and arrangement of these signals via tape recorders into a finished musical composition: "Electro-acoustic music is recorded and edited on tape and the reproduction involves the use of loudspeakers."

Some electroacoustic music is created by arranging electronically synthesized sounds into a formal pattern with musical qualities which might resemble those of normal musical instruments.

electron (s), electrons (pl)
1. A stable elementary particle that is a primary constituent of ordinary matter, contained in the atoms of all elements.

Electrons flowing in a conductor constitute an electric current.

2. A negative beta particle emitted from a radioactive substance.
3. A negatively charged elementary particle that has a specific charge, mass, and spin.

The number of electrons associated with the nucleus of an atom is equal to the atomic number of the substance.

4. A sub-atomic particle with a negative beta particle emitted from a radioactive substance.

A flow of electrical current consi that are in a given material, the greater its electrical conductance (or equivalently, the lower its resistance).

Electrons are the primary charge carriers in electric currents.

All atoms have electrons arranged around a nucleus and an electron may be positive (positron), but as the term is generally used, it refers to the negative form (negatron).

electron accelerator
1. A device which accelerates electrons to high energies.
2. A machine that increases the energy levels of electrons in order to produce a beam of highly charged particles.
electron acceptor
1. An impurity element that is introduced into a pure semiconductor material to produce holes as charge carriers.
2. An atom or part of a molecule joined by a covalent bond to an electron donor.
3. A molecule or compound that gets electrons during an oxidation-reduction reaction.
electron acoustic microscopy (s) (noun), electron acoustic microscopies (pl)
A technique for producing images showing the thermal (heat) and elastic variations in the properties of an object: The process of electron acoustic microscopy consists of an electron beam that generates ultrasonic waves in a specimen which are detected by a piezoelectric transducer whose output controls the brightness of a spot sweeping a cathode-ray tube in synchronism with the electron beam.
electron affinity
1. The energy needed to remove an electron from a negative ion in order to form a neutral atom or molecule.
2. The work needed in removing an electron from a negative ion which will restore the neutrality of an atom or molecule.
3. The work needed to remove an electron from a negative ion and move it to infinity.
electron beam
1. A stream of electrons emitted from a given source and traveling under the influence of an electric or magnetic field in the same direction and at approximately the same speed.
2. A stream of electrons, or electricity, that is directed towards a receiving object.
3. A narrow stream of electrons moving in the same direction, all having about the same velocity.

The electron beam of the super-microscope has become a basic tool in the research of diseases.

electron beam channeling, electron-beam channeling
1. The process by which high-energy, high-current electron beams are transported from an accelerator through a medium of high-pressure gas directly to an intended target.
2. A device used in atomic physics to produce highly charged ions by bombarding atoms with a powerful electron beam.
3. The technique of transporting high-energy, high-current electron beams from an accelerator to a target through a region of high-pressure gas by creating a path through the gas where the gas density may be temporarily reduced.

The gas may be ionized; or a current may flow whose magnetic field focuses the electron beam on the target.

electron beam computed tomography (s) (noun), EBCT; electron beam computed tomographies (pl)
Ultrafast computed tomography done with a scanner in which the patient is surrounded by a large circular anode that emits X-rays as the electron beam is guided around it.