E glossary entries

A circulating electric current induced inside a conductor by a changing magnetic field or by motion through a magnetic field.

Efficiency is the ratio of useful output to the total input consumed, quantifying how effectively a system, process, or device converts or uses resources.

A measure of material stiffness relating stress to elastic strain within the reversible deformation range.

A vector field describing the force per unit electric charge at a point in space.

Unwanted electromagnetic energy that degrades, disturbs, or disrupts the operation of electrical or electronic equipment.

An electromagnetic wave is a propagating disturbance of coupled electric and magnetic fields.

A sensor or device that converts position, angle, speed, displacement, or another state into an electrical, optical, magnetic, or digital signal.

The endurance limit is the stress amplitude below which a material can sustain a theoretically unlimited number of fully reversed load cycles without fracturing by fatigue.

A thermodynamic property associated with energy dispersal, irreversibility, and the direction of spontaneous processes.

Environmental compliance is the controlled operating state in which emissions, discharges, waste, monitoring, evidence, and reporting satisfy applicable environmental requirements.

Environmental monitoring is the planned measurement of environmental conditions, emissions, discharges, contaminants, or control-system performance.

A structured allocation and accounting of allowable error among components, measurements, models, or process steps in a system.

Euler buckling is the ideal elastic stability model that estimates the critical axial compressive load at which a perfectly straight slender column buckles laterally.

A temporary or permanent system used to stabilize soil, rock, groundwater, and adjacent structures around an excavation.

The maximum useful work obtainable as a system comes into equilibrium with a specified environment.