Modern Meaning in The Physical Sciences
In the 17th century the word spectrum was introduced into optics, referring to the range of colors observed when white light was dispersed through a prism. Soon the term referred to a plot of light intensity or power as a function of frequency or wavelength, also known as a spectral density.
The term spectrum was expanded to apply to other waves, such as sound waves that could also be measured as a function of frequency. The term now applies to any signal that can be measured or decomposed along a continuous variable such as energy in electron spectroscopy or mass to charge ratio in mass spectrometry. Spectrum is also used to refer to a graphical representation of the as a function of the dependent variable.
Read more about this topic: Spectrum
Famous quotes containing the words modern, meaning, physical and/or sciences:
“It is obvious that all sense has gone out of modern marriage: which is, however, no objection to marriage but to modernity.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“A moment in time but time was made through that moment: for without the meaning there is no time, and that moment of time gave the meaning.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“When we say that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasure of the profligate or that which depends on physical enjoyment—as some think who do not understand our teachings, disagree with them, or give them an evil interpretation—but by pleasure we mean the state wherein the body is free from pain and the mind from anxiety.”
—Epicurus (c. 341–271 B.C.)
“The sciences have ever been the surest guides to virtue.”
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)