sonoluminescence
/ˌsəʊnə(ʊ)luːmɪˈnɛs(ə)ns
/noun [mass noun] Physics
Luminescence excited in a substance by the passage of sound waves through it.For 70 years, physicists have puzzled over sonoluminescence, a process where sound waves create thousands of hot, luminous bubbles in water....
- A bubble's collapse can be extremely violent, as revealed in light emission, called sonoluminescence.
- During typical sonoluminescence experiments, spectral emission temperatures range up to tens of thousands of kelvins, and the rapidly imploding bubble walls can generate internal shock waves under certain conditions.
Derivatives
sonoluminescent
- The final signature of bubble fusion is the coincidence between the sonoluminescent light flashes from collapsing bubbles and the neutron emission.
- In a controversial report last March, researchers offered evidence that such a so-called sonoluminescent bubble's implosion attains temperatures and pressures high enough to make atomic nuclei fuse together.
- Using this theory, temperatures inside the sonoluminescent bubble can be expected to reach 10 Kelvin.