rotor
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹəʊ.tə/
ipa: /ˈɹoʊ.tɚ/
note: US, non-rhotic
ipa: /ˈɹoʊ.tə/
rhymes: (UK) -əʊtə
homophone: rota
homophone: Rota (non-rhotic)
homophone: Rhoda (non-rhotic, flapping)
Forms: form: rotors
Etymology: From an irregular clipping of rotator, originally in mathematics, coined by English mathematician and philosopher William Kingdon Clifford based on vector, see quotations. Doublet of rota and ruote.
Senses: examples: text: Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
ref: 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2013:
glosses: A rotating part of a mechanical device; for example, in an electric motor, generator, alternator, or pump.
topics: automotive
cycling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
transport
vehicles
glosses: A rotating part of a mechanical device; for example, in an electric motor, generator, alternator, or pump.
In a disc brake, the metal disc attached to the wheel hub.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A rotating part of a mechanical device; for example, in an electric motor, generator, alternator, or pump.
The wing of a helicopter or other rotary-wing aircraft.
examples: text: A glider instructor, who had been in the COS area for more than 25 years, was interviewed. He stated that around 1200 on the day of the accident, he observed a rotor hit the ground with estimated wind speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour.
ref: 2001, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.7.1 Observations and Forecasts”, in Uncontrolled Descent and Collision With Terrain, United Airlines Flight 585, Boeing 737-200, N999UA, 4 Miles South of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 3, 1991, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2021, pages 30–31:
topics: climatology
meteorology
natural-sciences
glosses: A type of powerful horizontal-axis atmospheric vortex generated by the interaction of strong winds with mountainous terrain.
examples: text: These quantities are unit lengths measured anywhere on the axes in the positive directions. They have magnitude, direction, and position, and are thus what I have called rotors (short for rotators) to distinguish them from vectors, which have magnitude and direction but no position.
ref: 1878, William Kingdon Clifford, “Applications of Grassmann's Extensive Algebra”, in American Journal of Mathematics, volume 1, number 4, →DOI, →ISSN, page 353:
topics: algebra
mathematics
sciences
coordinate_terms: vector
glosses: A quantity having magnitude, direction, and position.
examples: text: The following figure shows examples of the most versatile class of these oscillators. The first emulates the p10 shown above; the second has period 62 and a rotor of size 10.
ref: 1997 November 30, David Bell, “Day & Night - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 2/5)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
text: The problem of determining the asymptotic colouring for a cyclic pattern from a given initial black and white pattern is completely solved. The analysis leads to the proposal of the distinction between primary and secondary rotor cells (i.e. a refinement of the classical stator-rotor distinction).
ref: 1998 March 18, Gunnar Johnsson, “Genetic aspects of the Game of Life.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
text: In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator):
ref: 2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
topics: cellular-automata
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: The set of cells within an oscillator that switch between being alive and dead over the course of the oscillator's period.
glosses: An amusement park and carnival ride consisting of a rotating cylindrical chamber in which centrifugal force adheres riders to the wall as the floor drops away, creating a sensation of defying gravity.
Hyponyms: main rotor
tail rotor
wound rotor
Derived terms: Flettner rotor
locked rotor amp
mountain rotor
open rotor
rotor brake
rotor burst
rotor cloud
rotor kite
rotor machine
rotor sail
Related terms: stator