different between quantum vs superinsulation

English

Etymology

From Late Latin quantum, noun use of neuter form of Latin quantus (“how much”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kw?nt?m/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kw?nt?m/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): (enunciated) [?k?w?n.t??m], (common flapped realization) [?kw????m]
  • (enunciated)
  • (flapped)

Note: in General American, the enunciated form is more common when the word is used on its own; but in connected speech, when it is used as a modifier (as in quantum mechanics), the flapped form is more common.

Noun

quantum (countable and uncountable, plural quanta)

1. (now chiefly South Asia) The total amount of something; quantity. [from 17th c.]
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 416:

     The reader will perhaps be curious to know the quantum of this present, but we cannot satisfy his curiosity.

   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford 2009, p. 142:

     A certain quantum of power must always exist in the community, in some hands, and under some appellation.

   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins 2013, p. 375:

     Otherwise I will have given the lie to my maxim that whether you work eight or twenty hours, the quantum of work that gets done on a normal day is the same.

   • 2008, The Times of India, 21 May 2008, [1]:

     The Congress's core ministerial panel on Friday gave its green signal to raising motor fuel prices but the quantum of increase emerged as a hitch.

2. The amount or quantity observably present, or available. [from 18th c.]
   • 1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society 2010, p. 96:

     Each man has only a quantum of compassion, he argued, and mine is used up for the day.

   • 1999, Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford 2008, p. 34:

     The dream of flying, according to Strümpell, is the appropriate image used by the psyche to interpret the quantum of stimulus [transl. Reizquantum] proceeding from the rise and fall of the lungs when the cutaneous sensation of the thorax has simultaneously sunk into unconsciousness.

3. (physics) The smallest possible, and therefore indivisible, unit of a given quantity or quantifiable phenomenon. [from 20th c.]
   • 2002, David C Cassidy et al., Understanding Physics, Birkhauser 2002, p. 602:

     The quantum of light energy was later called a photon.

4. (mathematics) A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of William Kingdon Clifford to this entry?)

5. (law) A brief document provided by the judge, elaborating on a sentencing decision.
6. (computing) The amount of time allocated for a thread to perform its work in a multithreaded environment.
7. (computing, uncountable) Short for quantum computing.

   Developing for quantum has never been more accessible.

8. (medicine) The minimum dose of a pathogen required to cause an infection.

   Synonym: infectious dose

Related terms

• quantize

Translations

Adjective

quantum (not comparable)

1. Of a change, sudden or discrete, without intermediate stages.
2. (informal) Of a change, significant.
3. (physics) Involving quanta, quantum mechanics or other aspects of quantum physics.
4. (computing theory) Relating to a quantum computer.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• quantum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From English quantum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.t?m/, /kw??.t?m/

Noun

quantum m (plural quanta)

1. (physics) quantum

Further reading

• “quantum” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

quantum m (plural quanta)

1. quantum

   Synonym: quanto

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?k?an.tum/, [?k?än?t????]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?kwan.tum/, [?kw?n?t?um]

Adjective

quantum

1. nominative neuter singular of quantus
2. accusative masculine singular of quantus
3. accusative neuter singular of quantus
4. vocative neuter singular of quantus

Determiner

quantum (with genitive)

1. as much of […] as
2. how high, how dear, as dear as

Descendants

• French: quant
• Italian: quanto
• Spanish: cuanto

References

• quantum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• quantum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quantum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• quantum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• quântum (rare)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin quantum. Doublet of quanto.

Noun

quantum m (plural quanta or quantuns (uncommon))

1. (physics) quantum (indivisible unit of a given quantity)

Related terms

• quanto

English

Etymology

super- +? insulation

Noun

superinsulation (uncountable)

1. The efficient thermal insulation of a building or system, especially by using multiple layers, or low-conducting fibre.
2. (physics) A quantum state of zero electrical conductivity (or infinite resistance) - the opposite of superconductivity.

Related terms

• superinsulator