inverse square law

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noun Physics, Optics.

one of several laws relating two quantities such that one quantity varies inversely as the square of the other, as the law that the illumination produced on a screen by a point source varies inversely as the square of the distance of the screen from the source.

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Words nearby inverse square law

inverse cosine, inverse cotangent, inverse function, inverse image, inversely, inverse square law, inversion, inversion casting, inversion layer, inversion of uterus, inversion therapy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use inverse square law in a sentence

A very bright light, while still subject to the inverse square law, will not provide enough contrast as its intensity falls off as a dimmer light would.
Lighting tricks that will make small rooms feel gigantic|Hugh Neill|September 22, 2021|Popular-Science
Before you try to make light do what you want it to do, you’ll need to understand how it works, and the most important principle here is the inverse square law.
Lighting tricks that will make small rooms feel gigantic|Hugh Neill|September 22, 2021|Popular-Science
Unless there is a court decision that changes our law, we are OK.
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Submission is set in a France seven years from now that is dominated by a Muslim president intent on imposing Islamic law.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

A few days later, Bush replied, “We will uphold the law in Florida.”
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
To those who agreed with him, Bush pledged that the law against same-sex marriage would remain intact.
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In Israel, however, a new law took effect January 1st that banned the use of underweight models.
How Skinny Is Too Skinny? Israel Bans ‘Underweight’ Models|Carrie Arnold|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
We should have to admit that the new law does little or nothing to relieve such a situation.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips
He that seeketh the law, shall be filled with it: and he that dealeth deceitfully, shall meet with a stumblingblock therein.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
To Harrison and his wife there was no distinction between the executive and judicial branches of the law.
The Bondboy|George W. (George Washington) Ogden
Now this setting up of an orderly law-abiding self seems to me to imply that there are impulses which make for order.
Children's Ways|James Sully
These schools became affiliated Universities, but never equalled the Law University in importance.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume II of II)|Henry Osborn Taylor

British Dictionary definitions for inverse square law

inverse square law

noun

any natural law in which the magnitude of a physical quantity varies inversely with the square of the distance from its source

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for inverse square law

inverse-square law

The principle in physics that the effect of certain forces on an object varies by the inverse square of the distance between the object and the source of the force. The magnitude of light, sound, and gravity obey this law, as do other quantities. For example, an object placed three feet away from a light source will receive only one ninth (132, the inverse of 3 squared) as much illumination as an object placed one foot from the light.