compound: (often used as a synonym for chemical) A compound is a substance formed when two or more chemical elements unite (bond) in fixed proportions. For example, water is a compound made of two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom. Its chemical symbol is H2O.
conducting: (in physics and engineering) The process or ability of some structure to direct a flow through it of some current (especially an electric current).
conductor: (in physics and engineering) A material through which an electrical current can flow.
current: A fluid — such as of water or air — that moves in a recognizable direction. (in electricity) The flow of electricity or the amount of charge moving through some material over a particular period of time.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
electric current: A flow of electric charge — electricity — usually from the movement of negatively charged particles, called electrons.
electricity: A flow of charge, usually from the movement of negatively charged particles, called electrons.
electron: A negatively charged particle, usually found orbiting the outer regions of an atom; also, the carrier of electricity within solids.
electronics: Devices that are powered by electricity but whose properties are controlled by the semiconductors or other circuitry that channel or gate the movement of electric charges.
element: A building block of some larger structure. (in chemistry) Each of more than one hundred substances for which the smallest unit of each is a single atom. Examples include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, lithium and uranium.
field: (in physics) A region in space where certain physical effects operate, such as magnetism (created by a magnetic field), gravity (by a gravitational field), mass (by a Higgs field) or electricity (by an electrical field).
friction: The resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over or through another material (such as a fluid or a gas). Friction generally causes a heating, which can damage a surface of some material as it rubs against another.
lead: A toxic heavy metal (abbreviated as Pb) that in the body moves to where calcium wants to go (such as bones and teeth). The metal is particularly toxic to the brain. In a child’s developing brain, it can permanently impair IQ, even at relatively low levels.
levitation: The act of suspending or causing to float in air a person or object — seemingly in violation of gravity.
magnet: A material that usually contains iron and whose atoms are arranged so they attract certain metals.
magnetic field: An area of influence created by certain materials, called magnets, or by the movement of electric charges.
mercury: Sometimes called quicksilver, mercury is an element with the atomic number 80. At room temperature, this silvery metal is a liquid. Mercury is also very toxic.
metal: Something that conducts electricity well, tends to be shiny (reflective) and is malleable (meaning it can be reshaped with heat and not too much force or pressure).
MRI: Short for magnetic resonance imaging. It’s an imaging technique to visualize soft, internal organs, like the brain, muscles, heart and cancerous tumors. MRI uses strong magnetic fields to record the activity of individual atoms.
particle: A minute amount of something.
quantum: (pl. quanta) A term that refers to the smallest amount of anything, especially of energy or subatomic mass.
qubit: Short for quantum bit. It’s the analog of a bit — a zero or one — in classical computing. Classical computers encode data as bits, where each of these is either a zero or one. In quantum computing, data instead are encoded as qubits, where the two basic states are usually written as ∣0⟩∣0⟩ and ∣1⟩∣1⟩. A qubit can be in state ∣0⟩∣0⟩, ∣1⟩∣1⟩. But unlike a classical bit, a qubit also can be in a so-called linear combination of both states. The name of this phenomenon is superposition.
resistance: (in physics) Something that keeps a physical material (such as a block of wood, flow of water or air) from moving freely, usually because it provides friction to impede its motion.
superconductor: Materials that have no resistance to the flow of electricity, typically only when they are cooled below a certain temperature. Superconductors also repel all magnetic fields, which allows them to float in the air when they are placed inside a strong magnetic field.
tumor: A mass of cells characterized by atypical and often uncontrolled growth. Benign tumors will not spread; they just grow and cause problems if they press against or tighten around healthy tissue. Malignant tumors will ultimately shed cells that can seed the body with new tumors. Malignant tumors are also known as cancers.
unit: (in measurements) A unit of measurement is a standard way of expressing a physical quantity. Units of measure provide context for what numerical values represent and so convey the magnitude of physical properties. Examples include inches, kilograms, ohms, gauss, decibels, kelvins and nanoseconds.