An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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فرهنگ ریشه شناختی اخترشناسی-اخترفیزیک

M. Heydari-Malayeri    -    Paris Observatory

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Number of Results: 8 Search : rayleigh
rayleigh
  ریلی   
rayleigh (#)

Fr.: rayleigh   

A c.g.s. unit of light intensity used in astronomy and physics to measure the brightness of the night sky, auroras, etc. One rayleigh (R) represents the light intensity of one million photons of light emitted in all directions per square centimeter of receiver per second; or, in SI units, 795.775 x 106 photons per square meter per steradian (m-2·sr-1). A dark night sky has a light intensity of roughly 250 R.

In honor of the English mathematician and physicist Lord Rayleigh (1842-1919), surname of John William Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh, whose research ranged over several fields of physics.

Rayleigh line
  خط ریلی   
xatt-e Rayleigh

Fr.: 1) droite de Rayleigh; 2) raie de Rayleigh   

1) A straight line that connects the points corresponding to the initial and final states on a graph of pressure versus specific volume for a substance subjected to a → shock wave. The slope of the Rayleigh line is proportional to the square of shock speed. Steeper Rayleigh lines correspond to higher shock speeds. See also → Hugoniot curve.
2) In → Raman scattering, the spectral line in scattered radiation which has the same frequency as the corresponding incident monochromatic radiation.

rayleigh; → line.

Rayleigh number (Ra)
  عدد ِ ریلی   
adad-e Rayleigh

Fr.: nombre de Rayleigh   

The ratio of the buoyancy force to the viscous force in a medium. This dimensionless number is used to estimate when convection commences in a fluid. It depends on the density and depth of the fluid, the coefficient of thermal expansion, the gravitational field, the temperature gradient, the thermal diffusivity, and the kinematic viscosity. Convection usually starts when Ra is 1000 or more, while heat transfer is entirely by conduction when Ra is less than 10.

rayleigh; → number.

Rayleigh scattering
  پراکنش ِ ریلی   
parâkaneš-e Rayleigh

Fr.: diffusion Rayleigh   

The scattering of light by → particles of size small compared with the → wavelength of light. The intensity of the light scattered by unit volume of the medium at an angle θ to the direction of propagation of the incident light is: Iθ = 8 π4α2 N I0 (1 + cos2θ)/(R2λ4), where α is the → molecular polarizability, N is the number of scattering molecules, I0 is intensity of the incident light, λ is the wavelength, and R is the distance from the scatterer. The fourth power dependence on wavelength means that blue light is much more strongly scattered than red light from a medium containing very fine particles. The air molecules, mostly → nitrogen (78%) and → oxygen (21%) are some 1,000 times larger than → visible light wavelengths. This accounts for the bluish appearance of smoke and of clear sky when the observation is not along the direction of illumination. The setting Sun, seen through a considerable thickness of atmosphere appears reddish because long wave radiation predominates in the transmitted light.
Historically, John Tyndall first discovered this phenomenon in 1859 (→ Tyndall effect), but Lord Rayleigh studied it in more detail in 1871.

rayleigh; → scattering.

Rayleigh's criterion
  سنجیدار ِ ریلی   
sanjidâr-e Rayleigh

Fr.: critère de Rayleigh   

A criterion for the instability of a basic swirling flow with an arbitrary dependence of angular velocity Ω(r) on the distance r from the axis of rotation. This states that in → inviscid fluids: Ω(r) < 0 for instability, where Ω = (1/r3) (d/dr)(r4Ω4).

Rayleigh; → criterion.

Rayleigh-Jeans law
  قانون ِ ریلی-جینز   
qânun-e Rayleigh-Jeans(#)

Fr.: loi de Rayleigh-Jeans   

A classical law approximately describing the intensity of radiation emitted by a → blackbody. It states that this intensity is proportional to the temperature divided by the fourth power of the wavelength (8πkT4). The Rayleigh-Jeans law is a good approximation to the experimentally verified Planck radiation formula only at long wavelengths. At short wavelengths it runs into a paradox named the → ultraviolet catastrophe.

Rayleigh; → Jeans; → law.

Rayleigh-Jeans spectrum
  بیناب ِ ریلی-جینز   
binâb-e Rayleigh-Jeans

Fr.: spectre Rayleigh-Jeans   

The part of → electromagnetic spectrum approximated by the → Rayleigh-Jeans law.

Rayleigh; → Jeans; → spectrum.

Rayleigh-Taylor instability
  ناپایداری ِ ریلی-تیلر   
nâpâydâri-ye Rayleigh-Taylor

Fr.: instabilité Rayleigh-Taylor   

A type of hydrodynamical instability between two fluids of different densities, which occurs when the heavy fluid lies above the lighter fluid in a gravitational field. More generally a material interface is said to be Rayleigh-Taylor unstable whenever the fluid acceleration has an opposite direction to the density gradient.

rayleigh; → Taylor number; → instability.