TIME CONSTANT Definition & Meaning

time constant

noun

Electricity.

the time required for a changing quantity in a circuit, as voltage or current, to rise or fall approximately 0.632 of the difference between its old and new value after an impulse has been applied that induces such a change: equal in seconds to the inductance of the circuit in henries divided by its resistance in ohms.

time constant

noun

electronics the time required for the current or voltage in a circuit to rise or fall exponentially through approximately 63 per cent of its amplitude

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of time constant¹

First recorded in 1890–95

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

By changing the ratios of these oxides, the team achieved time constants ranging from 159 to 278 nanoseconds, or trillionths of a second.

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“Our results suggest that the optimal tempo for beat synchronization depends on the time constant in the brain,” Dr. Takahashi said.

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Nor is time constant, despite what the existence of an international standard might suggest.

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Applying various sequences of radio pulses, the scanner measures the time constants, which depend on the water molecules' chemical environment and, hence, the tissue type.

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Vibrational coherences typically decay with time constants in the picosecond range.

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