• Home
  • Login
  • Registration
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
ESLarticle.com
Tweet
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Members
  • Add Article

Top Categories

Teaching 509
Other 210
Classroom Management 138
Career Development 135
Learning Methodology 121
Study Skills 91
E-Learning/CALL 87
English Language Learning (ELL) 78
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) 77
Teaching Methodology 76
English Language Teaching (ELT) 74
English as a Second Language (ESL) 64
Teach in Shanghai
Home / Articles / English for Special Purposes (ESP) / View Article

Publishing

  • Articles
  • Add Article
  • Articles Archive
  • Latest Articles
  • Popular Articles

Latest Articles

Jan 5, 2019

Metacognition in Reading Competency

As related to the reading process, metacognition can be defined as contemplation concerning one's own thinking processes or knowledge of one's own...

Jan 5, 2019

Mass Media Literacy Reflections for Language Instructions

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself." Galileo Galilei Mass media forms thrive today. As development...

Nov 30, 2018

Ideas for the First Class with New Learners

~~The first class with new learners can be an anxious one for all concerned – teacher as well as learners. Below are some tips to make that first...

Nov 19, 2018

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners It is estimated that there are over a billion English speakers in the world, including native speakers,...

Nov 15, 2018

Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Hom

Education Today, December 2013 Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Home  Timothy G. Weih University of Northern...

Popular Articles

1113601 Views

5 Creative Ways to Decorate Your Classroom Bulletin Board This Winter

Back to school, fall leaves, Thanksgiving and Christmas all easily lend themselves to great decorating themes, but what to do when those are over...

353019 Views

Three Unique Ideas To Make Your Bulletin Board More Useful

Bulletin boards have long been existent in campuses. They have proven to be such versatile and useful aids in both the learning and teaching...

126633 Views

History of the Chalkboard

Walk into just about any classroom and you will find one: A dark green board on the wall, lined with pieces of chalk and felt erasers. Chalkboards,...

60155 Views

Report Card Comments

For a small minority, writing report cards isn't a big deal. But most teachers generally dread report card writing time. Completing the comment...

39640 Views

The Most Useful American Business Words

The Most Useful American Business Words: Here's a list that will come in handy for any student enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL)...


Improve Your English Vocabulary Through Physics: \\\'A\\\'

by Bhimarao Sathyanarayanan

Oct 3, 2012 English for Special Purposes (ESP) 4553 Views

_notregistered/art_100799_19221a3807~.jpg

 Introduction:

It is imperative that Science students should have a sound knowledge of English when they learn Science, especially Physics when the medium of learning Is English. Un-fortunately, in India, that spirit is missing from students They think that learning language is not their concern and that it is enough they become tech-savvy. But this author strongly feels that students of Physics should have an excellent knowledge of English which will go a long way in improving and exhibiting their talents. There is an imperative need to improve the vocabulary. For this, they need not go in search of various English text books. On the contrary, if they understand the literal equivalents of the technical terms their vocabulary will improve a lot. With this intention, the author has ventured to select some technical words, which are not so common in public use and give their literal and general applications. This is the first article in the series explaining a few words starting with the alphabet 'A'.

1. Aberration:

This word is associated with Optics and Sound in Physics. The Scientific meaning of this word is non-convergence of light rays due to the process known as Chromatic aberration or difference of focus of marginal rays known as Spherical aberration.

This technical word is derived from the word 'aberrate', which means to wander or deviate from the right way. 
E.g.: His support of Nazi front in II world war is an aberration in his otherwise patriotic character

The other Technical words related to this word are coma and astigmatism. The word 'coma' is commonly used in medical field as "The patient went into coma" meaning that the patient went into deep unconsciousness whereas in Physics it means a blurred nebulous focusing of light.

The word 'astigmatism' means a defect in eye,lens or mirror, the word having been derived from stigma which means any special mark, usually having a negative meaning

E.g.: He is not given promotion because there is a stigma in his report.

The word aberration is used in sound also with the same meaning as in optics. 
When a performer deviates from the normal note (Wanders randomly) we call that there is an aberration. There is a beautiful Sanskrit equivalent for this word as found in 'Apaswaram' meaning that the note is on the wrong side.

2. Accretion:

The scientific meaning is 'mass accumulated by gravitational attraction as in the case of Black Hole etc.

Normal literal meaning is 'continued external growth ' which is a derivation of the word accrescent which means ever increasing as in the case of phases of the moon which is known as crescent.

3.Adiabatic process:

Adiabatic process means any process that occurs without heat entering or leaving the system. Hence there is neither increase nor decrease in temperature. In fact no heat energy passes 'through' the system.

The root of this word is ' dia' which means to pass through. (Diameter is a straight line, passing through the central point). Hence adiabatic in Thermodynamics means no heat is passing through the system.

4.Albedo:

The dictionary meaning is 'whiteness', the proportion of light reflected by a planet giving it the whiteness we observe. The meaning attributed in Physics is the ratio of the incident flux reflected by a surface to that falling on it. It also represents the Probability of reflection of a neutron reflected back from the very surface it entered. It may be noted that all the three meanings have only a little difference and the common thing is whiteness retained.

5.Anemometer:

Anemo means wind and anemometer is a measuring instrument for speed of wind. For that matter, any word with the prefix 'anemo' refers to wind only. Other examples are: anemographic, anemology, anemophily etc.

6.Aqueous:

Aqua means water and aqueous is water solution. 
It may be noted that any word which has aqua in it relates to 'water'. Some other words are: aqua fountana, aqua regia, aquarium so on and so forth.

7.Armature:

The root of this word is 'arm'. Armature is any apparatus for defence. In Physics, it means a piece of iron set across the poles of a magnet, a moving part which indicates the flow of current and other uses of similar nature.

8.Asteroid:

Astronomy is the study of Universe beyond Earth's atmosphere. So, the prefix 'astro' means something with reference to Heavenly objects like the word Astrophysics. Asteroids are small bodies that revolve around the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In other words, they are minor planets or off-springs in the Heaven.

9.Audibility:

The word refers to hearing sense. Auditorium is the place where we hear something. Audio-visual education is the apt substitute for sound and light show.

10.Attenuation:

The dictionary meaning is 'to make thin, or slender'. In Physics the word possesses the same meaning while referring to the weakening of signals.

11.Avalanche:

This is an excellent English word which means 'a hurtling mass of snow, with ice and rock, descending a mountain side'. One may be surprised to note that this word is used with the same meaning as 'shower' of electrons in transistor diodes and other electronic instruments.The diode which uses this effect is known as 'avalanche Diode'.

Conclusion:

We have analysed some English words starting with the alphabet A used frequently in Physics along with their dictionary meanings. The roots of the words also were discussed.

The aim of this article is to create the awareness among the readers that Physics technical terms, in fact, originate from grammatical English only. Any scholar, whether those of Physics stream or Language stream should develop the habit of going deep into the origin of the word with its meaning. If that awareness is created, the purpose of this article is fulfilled.

The author wishes the reader all the best.

 

Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/english-for-special-purposes-esp/100799-improve-your-english-vocabulary-through-physics-a.html

  • General Information
  • Pictures
Author Info

Author Name: Bhimarao Sathyanarayanan

General

Pictures:

Most Recent Articles

  • Jun 5, 2017 An integrated Approach by Bhimarao Sathyanarayanan
  • Jun 2, 2017 Raising our profile as ESAP teachers by Bhimarao Sathyanarayanan
  • Feb 22, 2017 OET Reading Sub-Test - Access to Resources For Improvement of Reading by Bhimarao Sathyanarayanan
  • Dec 6, 2014 Effective Science Strategies for English Learners by Bhimarao Sathyanarayanan
  • Aug 9, 2013 Learn the 10 Tips for Writing Effective Business English Emails by Bhimarao Sathyanarayanan

Actions

  • Print Page

Articles Archive

  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019

Random Articles

Grammar

Relative Clauses (4) - Prepositions In Relative Clauses

In formal styles, we often put a preposition before the relative pronouns which and whom: Example: The rate (at which) a material heats up depends...

Writing

Types of College Essay Topics That Every Student Must Know

Essays can be a tough assignment for many students. Although essays mean writing a series of paragraphs, putting one's thoughts in a correct way...

Learning Methodology

Learning With a Teacher vs Learning by Themselves

Learning on our own is possible if a person is persistent and determined to reach goals. But learning with teachers is loads of fun and you never...

Study Abroad

The Benefits of Pursuing Courses from School Directory Websites

In the present age, the available streams of education are vast. There are thousands of courses offered by reputed universities and enrolling for...

Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)

What is Pragmatics in an EFL context? Why is it Important? How Teachab

Recently, there has been a growing interest in pragmatic competence in EFL. However, what this means and how to teach it is still somewhat unclear....

About ESL Article

ESL Article is a private ESL/TEFL site designed and maintained by educators and educational administrators. It was launched in August 2008 with the aim of bringing ESL/TEFL students, parents, teachers and schools information and articles about the teaching profession and learning community.

Icon Group Member

ESL Article is a member of Icon Group Thailand (IGT), a group of ESL TEFL TESOL websites providing educational resources and information to teachers, schools and students around the world. The group was founded in 2003 and now includes 15+ websites covering educational information services, teaching resources and e-learning.

What is ESL?

English as a second language (ESL) is the use or study of English by speakers of different native languages. It is also known as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL), and English as a foreign language (EFL).

  • Home
  • Registration
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Help
  • Partner
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
​

© 2019 ESLarticle.com.
Member of Icon Group Thailand - Educating the Future:
TESall All TESOL  Total ESL  ESL Job Feed
TEFL World  TEFL Jobs Overseas  Teach Overseas
Asia TEFL  ESL Powerpoint  Teacher Training