coherer

[ koh-heer-er, -her- ]

noun

1. a person or thing that coheres.
2. Radio. a device usually used in detecting radio waves, as a tube filled with a conducting substance in granular form, whose electrical resistance increases when struck by radio waves.

coherer

/ kəʊˈhɪərə /

noun

1. physics an electrical component formerly used to detect radio waves, consisting of a tube containing loosely packed metal particles. The waves caused the particles to cohere, thereby changing the current through the circuit

Word History and Origins

Origin of coherer¹

First recorded in 1890–95; cohere + -er ¹

Example Sentences

A small wooden and metal instrument looks like the sort of thing used to tap out Morse code, but is an early example of a coherer, a device for detecting radio signals.

From Nature

This condition is so singuarly like that of a Branly or Lodge coherer as to suggest a further analogy.

From Project Gutenberg

M. Blondel's arrangements comprise a Mercadier's monotone telephone and either a coherer or a particular form of vacuum tube as a kumascope.

From Project Gutenberg

Accordingly, when the incident electric wave strikes the receiving aerial and creates in it an oscillatory electromotive force, this last will, if of sufficient amplitude, cause the particles of the coherer to cohere and become conductive.

From Project Gutenberg

It has also been mentioned that a receiver of this type acts in virtue of electromotive force or potential difference, and hence the proper place to insert the coherer is not at the base of the aerial, but between the top of the aerial and the earth.

From Project Gutenberg