spectrometer

[ spek-trom-i-ter ]

nounOptics.

an optical device for measuring wavelengths, deviation of refracted rays, and angles between faces of a prism, especially an instrument (prism spectrometer ) consisting of a slit through which light passes, a collimator, a prism that deviates the light, and a telescope through which the deviated light is viewed and examined.

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Origin of spectrometer

First recorded in 1870–75; spectro- + -meter

Other words from spectrometer

spec·tro·met·ric [spek-truh-me-trik], /ˌspɛk trəˈmɛ trɪk/, adjective
spec·trom·e·try, noun

Words Nearby spectrometer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use spectrometer in a sentence

Rubenstein’s tech would take about six hours to store this article, for example, and you would need specialized equipment like a mass spectrometer to read it back, making the method better suited to archival preservation than daily computing.
The Brilliant 10: The most innovative up-and-coming minds in science | Bill Gourgey | September 20, 2021 | Popular-Science
On its 63-minute descent, it will use multiple spectrometers to study the atmosphere’s chemistry and composition.
NASA is ending its 30-year Venus drought with two new missions | Neel V. Patel | June 2, 2021 | MIT Technology Review
Instruments like spectrometers, which can identify the presence of different elements and compounds, are smaller and more resilient, and use much less power.
We’re living in a golden age of sample return missions | Neel Patel | February 2, 2021 | MIT Technology Review
A near-infrared spectrometer and ground-penetrating radar will help Chang’e 5 analyze some of the soil while still on the ground, as well as ensuring that it avoids heavy or hazardous rocks.
China launches its first mission to bring moon rocks back to Earth | Neel Patel | November 23, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
Enter SuperCam, a laser spectrometer mounted on the rover’s head.
NASA’s Perseverance rover will seek signs of past life on Mars | Lisa Grossman | July 28, 2020 | Science News

A source of neutrons to activate the material and a gamma-ray spectrometer to measure the radiation from the material afterwards.
The Atomic Fingerprint | Bernard Keisch
This spectrometer detects and measures gamma rays and sorts them according to their energy.
The Atomic Fingerprint | Bernard Keisch
He finished the last spectrometer observation, snatched out a pad and fell to figuring furiously.
Astounding Stories, March, 1931 | Various
The spectrometer is characterized by high data rates and many events per burst.
On-Line Data-Acquisition Systems in Nuclear Physics, 1969 | H. W. Fulbright et al.

British Dictionary definitions for spectrometer

spectrometer

/ (spɛkˈtrɒmɪtə) /

noun

any instrument for producing a spectrum, esp one in which wavelength, energy, intensity, etc, can be measured: See also mass spectrometer

Derived forms of spectrometer

spectrometric (ˌspɛktrəʊˈmɛtrɪk), adjective
spectrometry, noun

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 spectrometer

spectrometer

[ spĕk-trŏm′ĭ-tər ]

A spectroscope equipped with devices for measuring the frequencies of the radiation observed by it.

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