Thursday, May 21, 2009

All things faradayan: Faraday's, Faraday, faradic, faradaic, and farad

The adjective faradayan relates to Michael Faraday (1791-1867), the English bookbinder, chemist and physicist who advanced the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. This adjective is used in expressions such as faradayan principle. Instead of using the word faradayan, the possessive form Faraday's or simply his name is often taken, as in the terms Faraday cage and Faraday constant. The adjective faradic (a spelling variant is faradaic) relates to electric current. For example, the term faradic current denotes the current of an electrolyte solution, for which the current is proportional to the concentration of the electrolyte. Yes, the derived adverb has meaning as well: current can be faradically induced!
And then there is the SI unit of capacitance: Farad (symbol F), for which F = A·s·V-1.

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