background radiation
5
4.1
- noun
- /ˈbækˌɡraʊnd ˌreɪdiˈeɪʃən/
- Specialized
:
radiación de fondo
- Through the study of the cosmic microwave background radiation, cosmologists have gained an excellent understanding of the state of the universe at that "recombination" time.
- cosmic background radiation
- microwave background radiation
- natural background radiation
Because here, within a stone's throw, a Three Mile Island, unlike Fukushima, unlike Chernobyl, there is nothing above normal background radiation.
- Because here, within a stone's throw, a Three Mile Island, unlike Fukushima, unlike Chernobyl, there is nothing above normal background radiation.
- And in doing that, my background radiation just drops.
- And large objects like cats just constantly interact with something like air or the cosmic background radiation.
- And they felt strongly that they should have Ralph Alpha, the alpha beta gamma off, you know, paper predicting the microwave background radiation.
- All of these crystal, granite and diorite crystal boxes and vases, they all have a certain level of higher background radiation coming out of them.
Examples
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The background radiation in this system has been giving us problems from the word go.
Fiction book (1992) -
So one hour of exposure is equivalent to three years of exposure to normal background radiation.
Blog text (20) -
" But this mine also has very low background radiation.
Fiction book (2002) -
The cosmic background radiation is uniform in temperature.
-
This background radiation alone will give us 300 Roentgens per hour.
-
Thus, the background radiation we see now should preserve the lumpiness from that early era.
Academic text (1995) -
By comparison, the world's average individual lifetime dose due to natural background radiation is about 150 mSv.
Academic text (1999) -
Now, the existence of dark matter is largely inferred from the gravitational effect on visible matter and the gravitational lensing of background radiation.
-
The Cosmic Background Explorer satellite was launched in 1989 to investigate the microwave background radiation, the cosmic afterglow of the Big Bang.
Academic text (1992) -
In many regions, people are regularly exposed to low levels of background radiation from natural sources like rocks and soil.
How Strong
- Specialized
5
4.1
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'background' (ambient/other-than-primary) + 'radiation' (energy emitted) yields radiation present in the environment or as incidental noise. This noun–noun combination and the notion of ambient/ambient-level phenomena is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Background radiation comes from the idea of weak radiation that is always in the background — a low, constant 'noise' from space and the ground. That's why the phrase means the radiation in an environment from 'other sources' that scientists must measure or remove when they study a single source.