{"id":32355,"date":"2021-03-07T21:38:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T03:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=32355"},"modified":"2021-03-07T21:38:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T03:38:28","slug":"word-of-the-day-657","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2021\/03\/07\/word-of-the-day-657\/","title":{"rendered":"Word Of The Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Soliton<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>(<em>physics, mathematics<\/em>) A self-reinforcing pulse or travelling wave caused by any non-linear effect (found in many physical systems).<br \/>\nSynonyms: carrier wave (<em>obsolete<\/em>), solitary wave, wave of translation<em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/soliton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Wiktionary<\/strong><\/a>]<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Noted in &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2268553-the-us-army-is-building-the-most-powerful-laser-weapon-in-the-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The US Army is building the most powerful laser weapon in the world<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; David Hambling, <em><strong>NewScientist<\/strong><\/em> (27 February 2021, paywall):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Normal lasers are ineffective over long distances because the beam spreads out, but ultrashort pulses can be shaped into self-focusing light pulses called solitons that turn the air itself into a lens, continually refocusing the pulse.<\/p>\n<p>Such a weapon would produce dramatic effects. The rapid temperature rise from the ultrashort pulse would vaporise the surface of a target rather than melting it, a technique used industrially to drill precise holes through metal. The resulting rapid expansion of gas can also produce a powerful blast wave.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A handy characteristic. I wonder how such systems change over time. There&#8217;s no such thing as endless energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soliton: (physics, mathematics) A self-reinforcing pulse or travelling wave caused by any non-linear effect (found in many physical systems). Synonyms: carrier wave (obsolete), solitary wave, wave of translation [Wiktionary] Noted in &#8220;The US Army is building the most powerful laser weapon in the world,&#8221; David Hambling, NewScientist (27 February 2021, \u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2021\/03\/07\/word-of-the-day-657\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32356,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32355\/revisions\/32356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}