tokamak en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈtoʊkəmæk/ (General-American)
- /ˈtəʊkəmæk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian токама́к (tokamák), an acronym of то(роида́льная) ка́(мера) (с) ма(гни́тными) к(ату́шками) (to(roidálʹnaja) ká(mera) (s) ma(gnítnymi) k(atúškami), “toroidal chamber with magnetic coils”).
Meanings
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(qualifier:nuclear physics) A torus-shaped chamber used in nuclear fusion research in which plasma is magnetically confined.
Of magnetic fusion experiments, those in Tokamaks are closest to achieving the combination of confinement conditions needed for a reactor.
1982, “Controlled Nuclear Fusion”, in Energy in Transition 1985–2010: Final Report of the Committee on Nuclear and Alternative Energy Systems, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, →ISBN, page 390:Researchers use large doughnut-shaped vessels called tokomaks to try to achieve the critical temperature and density needed for fusion to begin. A tokomak uses powerful magnetic fields to contain hydrogen, which is heated to several million degrees. As the strength of the magnetic field increases, it squeezes the plasma, resulting in a higher temperature and density.
1989 September–October, D. Benningfield, “Funds Requested to Speed Up Nuclear Fusion Experiments”, in Ernstine Wheelock, editor, Alcalde, volume 78, number 1, Austin, Tx.: The Ex-Students' Association of the University of Texas, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 43, column 1:Studies of electrodeless discharges in a strong longitudinal magnetic field, carried out on the stellarator and the "Tokamak", have shown that in such systems the plasma becomes unstable for currents appreciably les than the critical current of Shafranov-Kruskal.
1963 November, E. P. Gorbunov, K. A. Razumova, “The Effect of a Strong Magnetic Field on the Magnetohydrodynamic Stability of Plasma and the Containment of Charged Particles in the ‘Tokamak’”, in Soviet Atomic Energy, volume 15, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Consultants Bureau, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1105:Slowly, the solenoid—all one thousand tons of it—will be carried to the tokamak and lowered into the center of the vacuum chamber.
2014 March 3, Raffi Khatchadourian, “A Star in a Bottle: An Audacious Plan to Create a New Energy Source could Save the Planet from Catastrophe. But Time is Running Out.”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2018:A Tokamak engineering test reactor (TETR) will be an important component of any national or international program to achieve viable Tokamak fusion power reactors.
1975, J. W. Lue, R. W. Conn, “Superconducting Toroidal Field Magnets for a Tokamak Engineering Test Reactor”, in K. D. Timmerhaus, D. H. Weitzel, editors, Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, volume 21, New York, N.Y.; London: Plenum Press, →OCLC, page 41; republished Boston, Mass.: Springer, 2013, →DOI, →ISBN, page 41:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tokamaks | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| tokomak | alternative | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
Relateds
Translations (16)
uk токама́к (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · fr tokamak (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · sh тока̀мак (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · ko 토카막 (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · pl tokamak (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · de Tokamak (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · ru токама́к (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · cmn 托卡馬克 /托卡马克 (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · sh tokàmak (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · hy տոկամակ (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · ka ტოკამაკი (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · ja トカマク (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · tr tokamak (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · pt tokamak (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · es Tokamak (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined) · be такама́к (A torus-shaped chamber in which a plasma is magnetically confined)