coherer

American  

[koh-heer-er, -her-] / koʊˈhɪər ər, -ˈhɛr- /

noun

1. a person or thing that coheres.

2. Radio. a device usually used in detecting radio waves, as a tube filled with a conducting substance in granular form, whose electrical resistance increases when struck by radio waves.

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coherer British  

/ kəʊˈhɪərə /

noun

1. physics an electrical component formerly used to detect radio waves, consisting of a tube containing loosely packed metal particles. The waves caused the particles to cohere, thereby changing the current through the circuit

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Etymology

Origin of coherer

First recorded in 1890–95; cohere + -er ¹

Example Sentences

He invented the coherer for the detection of electric waves and to him Marconi’s first wireless message was addressed.

From Scientific American • Oct. 28, 2011

I remember building my first "coherer" set, using filings from the milled edges of a nickel and a quarter.

From Time Magazine Archive

The relay then closes the second circuit, the recording instrument records a dot or a dash, and the tapper strikes the coherer and breaks the filings apart ready for another stream of electric waves.

From The Story of Great Inventions by Burns, Elmer Ellsworth

The coherer, or Branly filings tube, has the peculiarity that its passage from a non-conductive to a conductive condition follows immediately when the difference of potential between its ends is made sufficiently great.

From Hertzian Wave Wireless Telegraphy by Fleming, John Ambrose

Whenever the key of the sending apparatus is depressed these waves travel forth, and when they fall upon the coherer it "opens."

From Marvels of Scientific Invention An Interesting Account in Non-technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and many other recent Discoveries of Science by Corbin, Thomas W.