porosity

American  

[paw-ros-i-tee, poh-, puh-] / pɔˈrɒs ɪ ti, poʊ-, pə- /

noun

plural

porosities

1. the state or quality of being porous.

2. Geology, Engineering. the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the volume of the pores or interstices of a substance, as a rock or rock stratum, to the total volume of the mass.

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porosity British  

/ pɔːˈrɒsɪtɪ /

noun

1. the state or condition of being porous

2. geology the ratio of the volume of space to the total volume of a rock

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porosity Scientific  

/ pə-rŏs′ĭ-tē,pô- /

1. The condition of being porous.

2. The ratio of the volume of all the pores in a material to the volume of the whole.

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Etymology

Origin of porosity

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English porosytee, from Medieval Latin porōsitās ; see origin at porous, -ity

Explanation

Porosity is the quality of being porous, or full of tiny holes. Liquids go right through things that have porosity. Go back far enough and you’ll find that porosity stems from the Greek word poros for "pore," which means “passage.” So something with porosity lets things through. Most pants have porosity, as you unfortunately notice when you spill soup on them — the soup goes right through. On the other hand, a raincoat has no porosity because it's waterproof. If your roof is leaking during the rain, it has some porosity, which is a problem. You can remember porosity by imagining liquids pouring through things.

Example Sentences

Huang explained the process allows manufacturers to 3D print multi-material parts with spatially tunable, multi-scale porosity, which means creating structures that have different kinds of substances at different locations and with varied levels of porousness.

From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2024

Once the sample container is fully opened in the coming days, the team will sort through the collected pebbles, using instruments built into the glove boxes to measure the rocks’ volume, shape, mass, and porosity.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 24, 2023

There are different curl patterns, porosity, and thicknesses of hair.

From National Geographic • Aug. 22, 2023

“The Gundlach building looks the way it does because the community wanted it,” Mr. Sirén said, emphasizing its porosity.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023

Its shore could not be called a beach, there being neither sand nor pebbles, and there was no pounding of surf either, since the waves that fell upon the island simply vanished into its porosity.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel