electron gun
1
6.3
- noun
- /ɪˈlɛktrɒn ɡʌn/
- Specialized
:
pistola de electrones
- When faced with a vast cloud of deadly subatomic particles blasted out by a solar flare, the ship was charged to a high positive electrostatic potential by a pair of electron guns.
Let's say you know, on its route from the electron gun through the slits to the screen.
- Let's say you know, on its route from the electron gun through the slits to the screen.
Examples
-
That is a source like an electron gun that emits electrons.
-
As the electron beam sweeps across the screen, a control grid in the tube's electron gun modulates the electron intensity.
Academic text (1999) -
So those electrons come out of the electron gun in a kind of a loose beam.
-
An electron, a particle of matter, emerges from the electron gun and passes through both slits.
-
The high-voltage electron gun power supply provides a 100-kV potential with a load of several milliamperes.
Academic text (2001) -
The monitor uses an electron gun to paint the picture.
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The rate at which the electron gun repaints the lines is the refresh rate.
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Accelerated electrons are emitted from the electron gun in a beam.
How Focused
- Specialized
6
4.3
- Specialized
1
6.3
- Specialized
1
4.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
electron + gun
The meaning is directly compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'electron' and the common sense of 'gun' as a device that shoots or emits projectiles can infer 'electron gun' as a device that emits/focuses electrons. Although the term is technical, the construction follows a transparent noun + instrument pattern found across languages, so the overall sense is predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Electron gun may come from the simple image of a gun that 'shoots' tiny particles called electrons. So, like a gun sending a bullet, the device 'shoots' and focuses a narrow 'beam' of electrons to make images in old TVs and microscopes, which is why the term means a tool that emits and directs electrons.