metastability
- noun
- /ˌmɛtəˈstæbɪlɪti/
- Specialized
:
metastabilidad
- The system's metastability means it can exist in a balanced state until a slight disturbance causes a rapid change.
Examples
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In physics, metastability can allow a material to remain solid at a temperature where it typically would have melted.
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Metastability is thus both the ordinary condition and a state permanently on the brink.
Academic text (2017) -
When sampling an async input with a flip-flop, you always run the risk of violating setup or hold, which just means you might get a delay of one cycle or the tiny risk you hit metastability, which will generally resolve very fast in modern logic.
Blog text (18) -
Researchers studied the metastability of the compound to determine how long it could remain in its current state before transitioning.
How Stable
Surface Forms
Morphology
metastability = metastable (semi-transparent) = meta + stable + ity
The noun is a regular '-ity' formation from the adjective 'metastable'.
Etymology
Metastability comes from the parts meta- 'beyond' and stability 'steady'. Think of a ball in a shallow dip that looks steady but will roll into a deeper hole if pushed. So metastability means a system that stays in a temporary steady state until a disturbance makes it change.