electro-, electr-, electri-

(Greek > Latin: electric, electricity; from amber, resembling amber, generated from amber which when rubbed vigorously [as by friction], produced the effect of static electricity)

Electronics in our lives consists of numerous tools

Equipment which we use everyday relies on electronics to function including calculators, car controls, cameras, washing machines, medical scanners, mobile telephones, radar systems, computers; as well as many other applications or devices which are listed in this unit.

electromagnetically
1. By means of, operated by, or done with an electromagnet.
2. Pertaining to or exhibiting magnetism produced by an electric charge in motion.
electromagnetics
In physics, the branch concerned with the relationships between electric currents and their associated magnetic fields.
electromagnetic-type microphones
Microphones in which the voltages are varied by an electromagnet; such as, ribbon or velocity microphones, dynamic or moving-coil microphones, and reluctance or moving-vane microphones.
  • Ribbon or velocity microphones are those in which electric output depends on the velocity of the air particles that form a sound wave; examples are a hot-wire microphone and a ribbon microphone in which the conductor is a thin ribbon of aluminum alloy moving perpendicularly in a magnetic field. It is strongly directional and can be used to reduce unwanted side noise.
  • Dynamic or moving-coil microphones consist of moving-conductor microphones in which the flexible diaphragms are attached to a coil positioned in the fixed magnetic fields of a permanent magnet.
  • Reluctance or moving-vane microphones consist of diaphragms acted upon by sound waves that are connected to armatures which vary the reluctance in magnetic fields each of which is surrounded by a coil.
electromagnetism, EM (s) (noun) (no plural form)
1. The magnetic field around a wire or other conductor when, and only when, current passes through it: "Electromagnetism consists of electric fields and magnetic fields and both fields are simply different aspects of electromagnetism, and so they are intrinsically related because a changing electric field generates a magnetic field; and a changing magnetic field generates an electric field."
2. The branch of physics dealing with the observations and laws relating electricity to magnetism, and with magnetism produced by an electric current: "The environmental electromagnetism indicates not only the fact that we live our lives in a constant state of bombardment of electromagnetism, but also that all of the energy from all of the collective devices in use in the world today, is currently going to waste."
3. Magnetism produced by a current of electricity: "Electromagnetism is all around us because in addition to natural sources; such as lightning, it's also given off by every electronic gadget, device, or machine that people make."
4. The interaction between magnetism and electricity, and the phenomena produced by this interaction and the scientific study and applications of such observable events: "Electricity and magnetism were long thought to be separate forces until the work of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell showed that the phenomena associated with lightning and magnets were both caused by electromagnetism which is considered to be one of the four fundamental forces of nature."

The effects of electromagnetism include the "static" forces that electric charges and currents exert on one another, the radio waves we depend upon for much of worldwide communication, the light we see by, and, at the highest energies, the gamma rays generated in stars and particle accelerators.

—Arno Penzias, Vice President,
Research AT&T Bell Laboratories Nobel Laureate in Physics;
Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology;
Academic Press; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers;
New York; 1992; page 726.
electromagnetist
Someone who is a specialist or who is skilled in the field of electromagnetism.
electromallet condenser
An electromechanical device formerly used for compacting direct-filling gold; such as, gold foil restorations in prepared tooth cavities.
electromanometer
1. An apparatus used to gauge or to measure the pressure of gases or liquids which uses an electric signal as the indicator.
2. An electronic instrument that is used to gauge the pressure of liquids or gases or which is used for measuring the pressure of gases or liquids by electronic methods.
electromanometry
The measurement of pressure, as of the cerebrospinal fluid during a lumbar puncture, by electrical processes.
electromassage
1. The combined use of electrical currents and massage treatment.
2. The transmission of an alternating electric current through body tissues plus manual kneading.
electromechanical
1. A reference to a mechanical device, system, or process that is actuated or controlled by electromagnetic or electrostatic phenomena.
2. Pertaining to a mechanical device, system, or process which is electrostatically or electromagnetically actuated or controlled.
3. Designating or of a mechanical device that is operated wholly or in part mechanically, but powered or controlled by electricity.
4. The use of electricity to run moving parts; for example, disk drives, printers and motors are examples of electromechanical devices.

Electromechanical systems must be designed for the eventual deterioration of moving components that wear over time.

electromechanical bell
A bell with a prewound spring-driven clapper which is tripped electrically to ring the bell.
electromechanical brake, electromechanical brakes
A brake whose force is obtained partly as a result of the attraction of two magnetized surfaces and partly by mechanical processes.
electromechanical breakdown
A mechanical runaway that occurs when the mechanical restoring force fails to balance the electrical compressive force.
electromechanical chopper, contact modulator (s) (noun); electromechanical choppers, contact modulators (pl)
A switch that is used to produce modified square waves having the same frequency as, and a definite phase relationship to, a driving sine wave or a waveform with deviation that can be graphically expressed as the sine curve or a form or shape of a wave (a ripple or undulation).

All electromagnetic radiation, including radio signals, light rays, x-rays, and cosmic rays, as well as sound, behave like rippling waves in the ocean.

electromechanical commutator
A commutator (an unidirectional current from a generator or a reversal of current into the coils of a motor) which in its simplest form has motor-driven rotating brushes to connect a number of data points in sequence to a common output line.

The references or sources of information for compiling the words and definitions in this unit are listed at this Electronic Bibliography page or specific sources are indicated when they are appropriate.


A cross reference of word units that are related, directly and/or indirectly, with "electricity": galvano-; hodo-; ion-; piezo-; -tron; volt; biomechatronics, info; mechatronics, info.