An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

1a) To do habitually or regularly.
1b) To exercise or follow as a profession.
2a) Performance; the doing of something (contrasted with → theory). See also → praxis.
2b) Way of doing something that is common or habitual.
2c) Frequent or systematic repetition in doing something.

M.E. practisen, practizen; O.Fr. practiser "to practice," from M.L. practicare "to do, perform," from L.L. practicus "practical," from Gk. praktikos "practical."

1) Varzidan "to practice, perform; to accustom oneself to; to labor; to sow a field;" Mid.Pers. warz- "to work, do, practice;" Av. varəz- "to work, do, perform, exercise;" cf. Gk. ergon "work;" Arm. gorc "work;" Lith. verziu "tie, fasten, squeeze," vargas "need, distress;" Goth. waurkjan; O.E. wyrcan "work," wrecan "to drive, hunt, pursue;" E. work; PIE base *werg- "to work."
2) varzé, noun from present stem varz- + suffix -é.

Actively following a specified career or way of life.

→ practice; → -ing.

A professional man, especially in medicine and the law.

Alteration of practician, → practice (+ -ian) + -er, → -or.

Varzmand, from varz, → practice, + -mand, → -ist.

Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction.

→ principle; → action; → reaction.

The principle that, for a system whose total mechanical energy is conserved, the path to be taken for the system from one configuration to another is the one whose action has the least value relative to all other possible paths and from the same configurations. Also called Maupertuis' principle, least-action principle.

→ principle; → least; → action.

A → radioactive → chemical element which is a malleable, shiny silver-gray metal; symbol Pa. → atomic number 91; → mass number of most stable isotope 231; → melting point greater than 1,600°C; → boiling point 4,026°C; calculated → specific gravity 15.37; → valence +4, +5. Protactinium has 24 → isotopes of which only three are found in nature. The most stable is protactinium-231 (→ half-life about 32,500 years); it is also the most common, being found in nature in all uranium ores in about the same abundance as radium. The element was discovered by Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner, who found one of its isotopes in 1917. It was isolated in 1934, by Aristid von Grosse.

Protactinium, literally "parent of actinium," because actinium is a decay product of protactinium, from Gk. protos "first," → proto-, + → actinium.

A → thermonuclear reaction in which two protons collide at very high velocities and combine to form a → deuterium. See also → proton-proton chain.

→ proton; → reaction.

A nuclear reaction that takes place at high densities and relatively low temperatures. Pycnonuclear reactions are almost temperature independent and occur even at zero temperature. These reactions are extremely slow at densities typical for normal stars but intensify with increasing density. For example, carbon burns into heavier elements at densities over 10¹⁰ g cm^-3.

Pycnonuclear, from pycno- a combining form meaning "dense, thick," from Gk. pyknos "dense, solid" + → nuclear; → reaction.

Vâžireš, → reaction; cagâl-hasteyi, from cagâl, → dense, + hasteyi, → nuclear.

Since → Planck's constant has the dimension of → energy × → time, its sometimes called the quantum of → action.

→ quantum; → action.

Possessing, or pertaining to, → radioactivity.

→ radio + → active.

Determining the age of an object from the → radioactive decay of its constituting material. The technique consists of comparing the → abundance ratio of a → radioactive isotope to its → decay product. This will yield the number of half-lives that have occurred since the sample was formed. More specifically, if an object is made up of 50 % decay product then it has gone through 1 → half-life. 75% decay product equals 2 half-lives, 87.5% decay product equals 3 half-lives, 93.76% decay product equals 4 half-lives, and so on. For example, the decay product of → uranium-238 (²³⁸U) is → lead-206 (²⁰⁶Pb). The half-life of ²³⁸U is 4.5 billion years. Hence, if the sample has gone through two half-lives, it is 9 billion years old. See also: → radiocarbon dating.

→ radioactive; → dating.

Spontaneous emission by a nucleus of photons or particles.

→ radioactive; → decay.

A → nuclide that is radioactive.

→ radioactive; → isotope.

A → nuclide that disintegrates by emitting radiation and transforms into another nuclide. Same as → radionuclide.

→ radioactive; → nuclide.

The radioactive by-products from the operation of a nuclear reactor or from the reprocessing of depleted nuclear fuel. Also known as nuclear waste.

→ radioactive; → waste.

The spontaneous disintegration of certain atomic nuclei, which is accompanied by the emission of either α- or β- particles and/or a γ rays.

→ radio; → activity.

The state of being rarefied, less dense.
An instantaneous reduction in density of a gas resulting from passage a sound wave; opposite of → compression.

M.E. rarefien, from M.Fr. rarefier, from L. rarefacere "make rare," from rarus "loose, wide apart, thin, infrequent."

Verbal noun from âlar present stem of âlaridan→ rarefy + -š, a suffix.

A pressure wave in a fluid generated by rarefaction. It travels in the opposite direction to that of a shock wave in the medium.

→ rarefaction; → wave.

1) To act in response to an agent, influence, or stimulus.
2) To act in a reverse direction or manner; to act in opposition, as against some force.
3) Chem.: To undergo a → chemical reaction.

→ re-; → act.

The opposition to the flow of alternating current caused by the inductance and capacitance in a circuit rather than by resistance.

From → react + -ance a suffix of nouns.

Vâžirâyi state noun of vâžirâ agent noun of vâžiridan→ react.