All articles A–Z

Electropop

Electropop: a pop music genre built on synthesizers and drum machines, emerging in the UK in the early 1980s (Human League), influenced by Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra, revived in the 2000s by Lady Gaga's The Fame.

Electroporation

Electroporation: pulsed electric fields raise cell membrane permeability via nanoscale pores. Reversible forms deliver drugs and DNA (electrochemotherapy, gene electrotransfer); irreversible electroporation ablates tumors nonthermally.

Electropulsing treatment

Electropulsing treatment is a materials-processing technique in which short pulses of high-density electric current passed through a metal refine grains, relieve stress, and heal fatigue cracks.

Electroreduction

Electroreduction is an electrochemical method that reduces molecules or ions with electrons supplied directly at a cathode, driving organic synthesis, CO2 conversion, and industrial adiponitrile production.

Electroreductive coupling

Electroreductive coupling is a strategy in organic electrosynthesis in which carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom bonds form under cathodic electrolysis, with electric current replacing stoichiometric reductants such as zinc or manganese powders.

Electroreductive cross-coupling of alkyl halides

Electroreductive cross-coupling of alkyl halides, often called electroreductive cross-electrophile coupling or eXEC, forms carbon–carbon bonds between two electrophiles using electrons from a cathode in place of zinc or manganese.

Electroreductive deoxygenation

Electroreductive deoxygenation is a family of organic electrosynthesis reactions that remove or convert oxygen groups, chiefly C–O and C=O bonds, at a cathode using electrons as the reductant.

Electroretinography

Electroretinography (ERG) is a non-invasive diagnostic test that records the retina's summed electrical response to light, with waveform components localizing dysfunction from photoreceptors to ganglion cells.

Electrorheological fluid

An electrorheological (ER) fluid is a suspension of polarizable particles in insulating liquid that turns solid-like within milliseconds under an electric field, an effect patented by Willis Winslow in 1947.

Electroscope

An electroscope is an instrument that detects electric charge by electrostatic repulsion within itself; in the classic gold-leaf form, charged leaves swing apart, indicating the amount of charge.

Electroshock weapon

An electroshock weapon, also called an electroshock gun or conducted energy device, is a less-lethal weapon that incapacitates by electric current, as in the Taser.

Electroslag remelting

Electroslag remelting (ESR), also called electro-flux remelting, is a secondary refining process that melts a consumable electrode through molten slag into a water-cooled mold, producing cleaner ingots.

Electrospinning

Electrospinning, also called the electrospinning method, is a fiber fabrication technique that uses an electric field to draw a charged polymer solution or melt into fibers from micrometers down to nanometers.

Electrospray deposition

Electrospray deposition (ESD) is a soft, solvent-based fabrication method that uses electric fields to atomize liquid into fine charged droplets, depositing thin uniform films for solar cells, fuel cells, and implants.

Electrospray ionization

Electrospray ionization (ESI) is a soft ionization technique that turns dissolved molecules into intact gas-phase ions for mass spectrometry, developed by John B. Fenn at Yale.

Electrospray thruster

An electrospray thruster is a spacecraft propulsion device that uses an electric field to accelerate charged droplets from a liquid propellant, producing micronewton thrust for small satellites.

Electrospraying

Electrospraying, also called electrospray, is a technique in which a strong electric field breaks a liquid at a capillary tip into fine charged droplets, down to submicron sizes.

Electrostatic adhesion clutches

Electrostatic adhesion clutches, also called electroadhesive or EA clutches, are lightweight solid-state couplings that transmit shear force through voltage-controlled electrostatic friction, switching on millisecond timescales.

Electrostatic adhesion pad

An electrostatic adhesion pad, also called an electroadhesive pad, is a compliant sheet of electrodes in an insulating dielectric that sticks to surfaces when a voltage is applied.

Electrostatic analyzer

An electrostatic analyzer is a charged-particle instrument that separates electrons or ions by kinetic energy using a static electric field, used in electron spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and spacecraft plasma instruments.

Electrostatic discharge

Electrostatic discharge (ESD), also called static discharge, is the sudden flow of electricity between objects at different electrical potentials, ranging from doorknob sparks to lightning.

Electrostatic force microscopy

Electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) is a scanning probe technique that maps a surface's electric potential, charge distribution, and dielectric response using a biased conductive tip.

Electrostatic generator

An electrostatic generator is a device that produces high electric voltage by accumulating static charge; examples include the Van de Graaff, Wimshurst, and Cockcroft–Walton generators.

Electrostatic induction

Electrostatic induction is the redistribution of electric charge within a conductor or dielectric caused by a nearby external charge, without any contact, demonstrated by Faraday's 1843 ice pail experiment.

Electrostatic potential surface

An electrostatic potential surface is a three-dimensional visualization mapping a molecule's electrostatic potential (MEP or ESP) in color onto its outer boundary, used to locate reactive sites and predict binding.

Electrostatic precipitation

Electrostatic precipitation is an air pollution control method that removes dust and smoke from gas streams by charging particles and collecting them on oppositely charged electrodes.

Electrostatic precipitator

An electrostatic precipitator, also known as an electrostatic air cleaner, is a device that removes particulate matter from industrial gas streams with electrical charge, achieving over 99 percent collection efficiency.

Electrostatic separation

Electrostatic separation is the sorting of solid particles from a granular mixture by electric forces on charged or polarized particles, used in mineral sands and recycling.

Electrostatic septum

An electrostatic septum is a particle accelerator device that separates circulating beams from injected or extracted beams with an electric field across a very thin electrode.