All articles starting with P
28,818 articles
Potential method
The potential method, also known as the physicist's method, is a technique of amortized analysis in which a potential function measures stored work in a data structure.
Potential National Hockey League expansion
Potential NHL expansion: the 32-team league's process for adding franchises. Active 2026 Texas exploration with the Friedkin family (Houston or Austin, ~$3.5B), $2B minimum fee, plus Atlanta and Arizona interest.
Potential output
Potential output is the level of real GDP an economy can sustain without a change in its rate of inflation; the output gap measures the difference from actual output.
Potential superpower
Potential superpower: states seen as able to reach superpower rank, above great power, via worldwide power projection. Leading candidates: China, India, EU, Japan; framework from Brooks and Wohlforth.
Potential temperature
Potential temperature (symbol θ) is the temperature a dry air parcel would have if brought adiabatically, without heat exchange, to a standard pressure, typically 1000 hPa.
Potential test (petroleum)
A potential test is a well testing procedure in petroleum engineering that estimates the theoretical absolute open flow (AOF) rate at zero sandface backpressure, used for reservoir assessment and production allocation.
Potential theory
Potential theory is the branch of mathematics that studies harmonic functions and potentials, named for the scalar potential of gravity and electrostatics, with links to Brownian motion and probability.
Potential vorticity
Potential vorticity (PV) is a quantity in atmospheric and oceanic fluid dynamics combining a parcel's absolute vorticity with its stratification; conserved in adiabatic, frictionless flow, it underlies the dynamic tropopause.
Potential well
A potential well, or energy well, is a region where a particle's potential energy is lower than its surroundings, confining particles with insufficient energy to escape.
Potential-driven surface reconstruction of electrocatalysts
Potential-driven surface reconstruction is the transformation of an electrocatalyst's surface and near-surface region under the applied electrode potential of a working cell, often creating the true active sites.
Potentiality and actuality
Potentiality and actuality (dunamis, energeia/entelecheia) are Aristotle's paired metaphysical concepts from Metaphysics IX: a capacity to be or do, and its fulfillment, grounding his definitions of change and matter-form.
Potentilla
Potentilla (cinquefoil), Rosaceae genus published by Linnaeus in 1753; 520 accepted species, subarctic to tropical-mountain range, five-petaled yellow flowers, achenes, medicinal phytochemistry, disputed generic limits.
Potentilla erecta
Potentilla erecta (tormentil, erect cinquefoil) is a perennial Rosaceae herb of Europe to W. Siberia whose tannin-rich rhizome (Tormentillae rhizoma) is an EU traditional herbal medicine for mild diarrhoea and mouth inflammation.
Potentiometer
A potentiometer, commonly abbreviated pot, is a three-terminal resistive component with a movable wiper on a resistive track, acting as an adjustable voltage divider used for volume controls and calibration.
Potentiometer (measuring instrument)
The potentiometer, also called a balancing potentiometer, is a null-balance instrument measuring voltage against a known potential difference, the historical standard for precision dc voltage measurement.
Potentiometric surface
A potentiometric surface is an imaginary surface representing the static head of groundwater in wells tapping an aquifer; in unconfined aquifers, it is the water table itself.
Potentiometric titration
Potentiometric titration is a titration in which the end point is located by measuring the potential between an indicator electrode and a reference electrode as titrant is added, rather than by a color indicator.
Potentiometry
Potentiometry is an electroanalytical method that determines ion activity in solution by measuring the zero-current potential difference between an indicator electrode and a reference electrode.
Potexvirus
Potexvirus, genus of Alphaflexiviridae plant viruses with type species Potato virus X; flexuous 470–580 nm filaments, 5.9–7.0 kb positive-sense RNA, five ORFs, mechanical transmission, no known vectors.
Pothana
Pothana (పోతన), also called Bammera Pothana, was a Telugu poet from Bammera near Warangal who translated the Sanskrit Bhagavatam into Telugu around 1450 to 1510.
Pothana Bhagavatam
Pothana Bhagavatam, also known as Andhra Maha Bhagavatamu, is the Telugu rendering of the Sanskrit Bhagavata Purana composed in the 15th century by the Telangana poet Bammera Pothana.
Pothinus
Pothinus, Greek Potheinos, was a eunuch courtier who served as regent for the young Ptolemy XIII, ordered Pompey's assassination in 48 BC, and was executed by Caesar.
Pothole
A pothole is a bowl-shaped hole in a road pavement that grows under traffic and weather, a leading source of vehicle damage costing US motorists almost $3 billion a year.
Pothole patching
Pothole patching is the localized repair of broken-out road areas, replacing failed pavement with asphalt or another compound; methods include throw-and-roll, spray injection, and infrared patching.
Pothos
Pothos is both a real Araceae genus (Pothos L., 1753, type P. scandens, 66 species) and the common name for the houseplant Epipremnum aureum, or devil's ivy, reclassified out of Pothos after its flowers were studied.
Potiche
Potiche (2010) is a French-Belgian comedy by François Ozon, adapted from Barillet and Grédy's 1980 play, starring Catherine Deneuve as a 1977 trophy wife who takes over her husband's umbrella factory during a strike; Venice competition film released 10 November 2010.
Potlatch
Potlatch, from Chinook jargon for 'to give', is the ceremonial feast of Northwest Coast Indigenous nations such as the Kwakwaka'wakw and Tlingit, where hosts distribute or destroy property before witnessing guests; banned in Canada 1885–1951, revived after repatriation of confiscated regalia.
Potlatch ban
The potlatch ban was the prohibition, under Canada's Indian Act, of the potlatch ceremony of Northwest Coast First Nations, in force from 1885 until 1951.
Poto and Cabengo
Poto and Cabengo: names Grace and Virginia Kennedy, San Diego identical twins born 1970, gave each other in a private language used until about age eight; also Jean-Pierre Gorin's 1979 documentary about them.
Poto-Poto school
The Poto-Poto school of painting, also called the École de peinture de Poto-Poto, is an art school founded in Brazzaville, Congo, in 1951 by French painter Pierre Lods.