fugacity
Britishnoun
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Also called: escaping tendency. f. thermodynamics a property of a gas, related to its partial pressure, that expresses its tendency to escape or expand, given by d(log e f ) = dμ/ RT , where μ is the chemical potential, R the gas constant, and T the thermodynamic temperature
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the state or quality of being fugacious
Explanation
Fugacity is the quality of impermanence. With plants, fugacity refers to the parts that drop off. In chemistry, it’s the tendency of a gas to expand till it dissipates. Fugacity can also refer to things that don’t last, like youth. Anything fugacious is prone to run away or escape. The noun form, fugacity, has two related meanings. The first is the quality possessed by gases that expand and eventually dissipate. Some gases have more fugacity than others. Similarly, fugacity refers to changeableness in general. Anything that is prone to change, erode, or die possesses fugacity. If something is eternal and unchanging, it lacks fugacity.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Thermodynamic modelling demonstrates how the observed subtle compositional changes that result in fluidization or stiffening of the melt can be induced by crystal growth from the melt or variation in oxygen fugacity.
From Nature • Dec. 12, 2017
He perceives the independence of the thought on the symbol, the stability of the thought, the accidency and fugacity of the symbol.
From Essays — Second Series by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Its extreme fugacity, however, militates against its employment by artists.
From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas
The effects produced are lost sight of in a consideration of the materials, their permanence, fugacity, and conduct towards each other.
From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas
As there are different degrees both of permanence and fugacity, so are there different degrees of semi-stability.
From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
