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Entries starting with S

965 entries.

slug

An accessory to a diesel-electric locomotive, used to increase adhesive weight and allow full power to be applied at a lower speed. It has trucks with traction motors, but lacks a prime mover, being powered by electricity from the mother locomotive, and may or may not have a control cab.

slurry

A mixture of animal waste, other organic material and sometimes water, stored in a slurry pit and used as fertilizer; also used in combination, as pig slurry, etc.

slush-cast

To create hollow castings in which molten metal is poured into a metallic mould and then poured out again, leaving a thin solidified layer of the metal on the walls of the mold.

small

One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a medium.

small text

A small size of type, in French and Italian printing, usually conflated with brevier but technically treated as 7½ Didot points.

SMART

Acronym of self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology: a monitoring system included in computer HDDs and SSDs in order to detect and report various indicators of drive reliability with the intent of anticipating imminent hardware failures.

smart farming

A type of farming that takes advantage of information technology in order to maximise efficiency or product yield; most commonly via tracking, automation and big data analysis.

smart motorway

A section of motorway that uses active traffic management (ATM) techniques to increase capacity by use of variable speed limits and hard-shoulder running at busy times.

smelting

The process of melting or fusion, especially to extract a metal from its ore.

SMF

single-mode fibre; a type of an optical fibre which is designed to carry only a single ray of light.

SMMT

Initialism of Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

smocking

An embroidery technique in which the fabric is gathered and then embroidered with decorative stitches to hold the gathers in place; the product of the use of this embroidery technique.

smoke deflector

a device fitted to either side or on top of the smokebox of some steam locomotives, the purpose of which was to lift smoke clear of the locomotive at speed, so it wouldn't obscure the driver's vision.

smokestack industry

Any industry or large manufacturing facility that uses smokestacks to dispose of unwanted materials into the atmosphere.

SMOS

Initialism of Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity, a satellite from the Living Planet Programme.

SMPG

Initialism of Small Mission Program Group, a division for missions with a small budget at NASA.

snake

To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.

snakehead

A loose, bent-up end of one of the strap rails, or flat rails, formerly used on American railroads.

snape

To bevel the end of a timber to fit against an inclined surface.

snatch

Rapid, uncommanded jerking or oscillation of the ailerons of some aircraft at high Mach numbers, resulting from shock wave formation at transonic speeds.

Snell's law

the law that, for a ray incident on the interface of two media, the sine of the angle of incidence times the index of the refraction of the first medium is equal to the sine of the angle of refraction times the index of refraction of the second medium

snow

A square-rigged sailing vessel similar to a brig formerly used as a warship, with a foremast, a mainmast, and a trysail mast immediately abaft (behind) the mainmast.

snow guard

A device or series of devices attached to the roof in a pattern that attempts to hold the snow in place, thus preventing sudden snow or ice slides from the roof

snow load

The live load due to the weight of snow on a structure, such as a roof; included in the design calculations.

snow shed

A tunnel-like structure that provides roads and railroad tracks with protection from avalanches and heavy snowfalls that cannot be easily removed.

snow tire

A tire with rubber that remains soft at most winter temperatures, designed to maintain grip on snow and ice (historically these tires have poor tread life on tarmac and pavement, especially in non-cold temperatures)

snowflake wheel

A replica of the original Y spoke wheel design for the Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac Escalade trucks and SUVs.