| 释义 |
steady state
[f. steady a. + state n.]
1. An unvarying condition; a state of equilibrium.
1885Electrician 10 Jan. 180/1 With special arrangements (solenoidal) of impressed force, there is no transmission of energy in the steady state. 1905Nature 27 July 293/2 His [sc. Planck's] ensemble of systems has not yet reached a statistical ‘steady state’. 1930Ruark & Urey Atoms, Molecules & Quanta ix. 272 These five quantum numbers may be taken as those required to fix the steady states of an atom in a strong magnetic field. 1963Wall St. Jrnl. 19 Aug., It long had been held by many scientists that the universe is in a steady state, that, in its general features, it is the same now as it always has been. 1971Nature 8 Jan. 75/1 If present patterns..continue, the annual death rate from lung cancer will increase from about 15,000 to more than 45,000 in the steady state that will be attained in the 1980s. 1977Lancet 3 Sept. 509/2 Plasma-carbamazepine concentrations were in steady state in all patients.
2. attrib. (freq. with hyphen).
a. gen.
1909Phil. Mag. XVII. 251 There is no a priori reason why there should not be different ‘steady state’ formulæ corresponding to different kinds of matter. 1942Jrnl. Appl. Physics XIII. 710/2 The steady state current is then the difference of the expressions for the total current and for the transient current. 1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy iii. 32 The microeconomic theory of the firm..is basically a steady-state theory concerned with successive equilibrium conditions. 1970J. Earl Tuners & Amplifiers iii. 66 For good quality listening we should not go in for anything less than..8W steady-state power per channel. 1976Conservation News Nov./Dec. 22/1 The author is sceptical that steady-state economics will ever find practical application, since people's desires for consumption show no evidence of having a reasonable upper limit. 1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 296 Hutton and Lyell were postulating a steadystate Earth—ceaseless piecemeal local change was occurring. But the consequence of such change was to maintain from the indefinite past to the indefinite future an overall, constant equilibrium in the terrestrial economy. 1978P. Marsh et. al. Rules of Disorder iv. 112 Evidence for the existence of a ‘steady-state’ system of rules and a sense of social propriety.
b. Astr. Used with reference to any cosmological theory which embraces the principle that on a large scale the universe is essentially unchanging in time and space; spec. the theory propounded by Bondi, Gold, and Hoyle of an isotropic universe expanding at a constant rate, with matter being continuously created so that mean density of the universe remains constant.
1948Bondi & Gold in Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. CVIII. 252 (heading) The steady-state theory of the expanding universe. 1955Sci. News XXXVII. 22 The steady-state theory was designed to overcome a difficulty in the world-models of general relativity which no longer exists. Until a few years ago it was thought that these gave a value for the age of the universe..which was too small to satisfy other astrophysical evidence. 1969Times 23 June 6/7 The steady state theory..says that the universe looks roughly the same from any position and at any time in the past, present or future. 1971J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xxvi. 363 There are other versions of steady-state cosmologies according to which new galaxies are continuously being formed by newly created matter. 1973[see radio astronomy]. 1977J. Narlikar Struct. Universe iv. 132 With the help of the PCP [Perfect Cosmological Principle], Bondi and Gold were able to deduce a number of important properties of the steady-state Universe. As we shall see.., they were able to deduce that such a Universe must continually expand. 1978Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. xxix. 732 If we have indeed discovered radiation from the big bang itself then clearly the steady state theory is discredited.
Hence steady-stater, an advocate of a steady-state theory of the universe.
1966Time 11 Mar. 51 As the galaxies move farther away from each other, steady-staters believe, new galaxies are constantly being formed. 1973‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Starry Bird xiii. 188 Black holes..according to theory are nonluminous stars..concealing whole galaxies..to the satisfaction of all the Steady Staters. |