electric displacement

noun

, Electricity.

1. the part of the electric field that is determined solely by free charges, without reference to the dielectric properties of the surrounding medium: measured in coulombs per square meter. : D

electric displacement

noun

1. physics the electric flux density when an electric field exists in free space into which a dielectric is introduced D Also calledelectric flux density

electric displacement

1. See electric flux density

Word History and Origins

Origin of electric displacement¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

And he goes on to say that "when we have an electromagnetic theory of light," electric displacement will be seen as in the direction of propagation, with Fresnelian vibrations perpendicular to that direction.

From Project Gutenberg

Lines of force cannot pass through the material of a conductor without producing electric displacement.

From Project Gutenberg

In this medium we can at any place produce a state called electric displacement or ether strain as we can produce compression or rarefaction in air; and, just as the latter changes are said to be created by mechanical force, so the former is said to be due to electric force.

From Project Gutenberg

The displacement producing the polarization is due to the different rotation of the wheels carrying the band causing more of the band to be at one side of the wheels than at the other—less at the tight and more at the loose side of the pair of wheels, and this represents the electric displacement producing the polarization.

From Project Gutenberg

The work of Benjamin Franklin, Henry Cavendish, Michael Faraday and J. Clerk Maxwell demonstrated, however, that all electric charge or electrification of conductors consists simply in the establishment of a physical state in the surrounding insulator or dielectric, which state is variously called electric strain, electric displacement or electric polarization.

From Project Gutenberg