Science terms starting with F

623 terms

Flood irrigation Water is pumped or brought to the fields and is allowed to flow along the ground among the crops.
Flood Loss Reduction Measures The strategy for reducing flood losses. There are four basic strategies. They are prevention, property protection, emergency services, and structural…
Flood of Record The highest observed river stage or discharge at a given location during the period of record keeping. (Not necessarily the highest known stage.)
Flood Plain A strip of relatively flat and normally dry land alongside a stream, river, or lake that is covered by water during a flood.
Flood Plain Information Studies Reports usually prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) following a survey of a flood-impacted community.
Flood pool index Computed as the ratio of the flood control pool depth to the depth below the pool, multiplied by the percent of time the reservoir water surface will be…
Flood Potential Outlook (ESF on AFOS) (FPO for Acronym): In hydrologic terms, An NWS outlook that is issued to alert the public of potentially heavy rainfall that could send area…
Flood Potential Outlook (ESF on AFOS) (FPO) An NWS outlook that is issued to alert the public of potentially heavy rainfall that could send area rivers and streams into flood or aggravate an…
Flood Prevention Measures that are taken in order to keep flood problems from getting worse. Planning, land acquisition, river channel maintenance, wetlands protection…
Flood Problems Problems and damages that occur during a flood as a result of human development and actions.
Flood Profile A graph of elevation of the water surface of a river in flood, plotted as ordinate, against distance, measured in the downstream direction, plotted as…
Flood Routing A process of determining progressively over time the amplitude of a flood wave as it moves past a dam or downstream to successive points along a river or…
Flood severity Qualitative description of how severe a possible flood could be (High, Medium, Low) depending on failure modes (including rate of failure), flood…
Flood severity understanding Understanding as to what degree flooding might affect the downstream population.
Flood Stage An established gage height within a given river reach above which a rise in water surface level is defined as a flood.
Flood Statement (FLS) A statement issued by the NWS to inform the public of flooding along major streams in which there is not a serious threat to life or property.
Flood Warning (FLW) In hydrologic terms, a release by the NWS to inform the public of flooding along larger streams in which there is a serious threat to life or…
Flood Warning (FLW) A release by the NWS to inform the public of flooding along larger streams in which there is a serious threat to life or property.
Flood Watch Issued to inform the public and cooperating agencies that current and developing hydrometeorological conditions are such that there is a threat of…
Flood Wave A rise in streamflow to a crest and its subsequent recession caused by precipitation, snow melt, dam failure, or reservoir releases.
Flooded Ice Ice which has been flooded by melt water or river water and is heavily loaded by water and wet snow.
Floodplain Any land area susceptible to being inundated by floodwaters from any source.
Floodproofing The process of protecting a building from flood damage on site. Floodproofing can be divided into wet and dry floodproofing.
Floodwall A long, narrow concrete, or masonry embankment usually built to protect land from flooding.
Floodway (1) A part of the flood plain, otherwise leveed, reserved for emergency diversion of water during floods.
Floor Action "on the floor" is that which occurs as part of a formal session of the full Senate.
Floor Area Ratio (FAR) A measure of development intensity. FAR is the ratio of the amount of floor area of a building to the amount of area of its site.
Floor Space The interior area of a building, calculated in square feet or meters.
Flora Plants, especially those of a specific region, considered as a group.
Flow Volume of water that passes a given point within a given period of time. See base flow, discharge, enhancement flow, instream flow requirements…
Flow augmentation The release of water stored in a reservoir or other impoundment to increase the natural flow of a stream.
Flow channel The portion of a flow net bounded by two adjacent flow lines.
Flow Condition In reference to solar thermal collectors, the condition where the heat transfer fluid is flowing through the collector loop under normal operating…
Flow curve The locus of points obtained from a standard liquid limit test and plotted on a graph representing moisture content as ordinate on an arithmetic scale and…
Flow cytometry A method of measuring the number of cells in a sample, the percentage of live cells in a sample, and certain characteristics of cells, such as size…
Flow Duration Curve A cumulative frequency curve that shows the percentage of time that specified discharges are equaled or exceeded.
Flow failure Failure in which a soil mass moves over relatively long distances in a fluidlike manner.
Flow Improvers A chemical used in fuel to reduce friction and increase performance.
Flow karyotyping Use of flow cytometry to analyze and separate chromosomes according to their DNA content.
Flow line The path that a particle of water follows in its course of seepage under laminar flow conditions.
Flow net A graphical representation of flow lines and equipotential (piezometric) lines used in the study of seepage phenomena.
Flow rate The amount of water that moves through an area (usually pipe) in a given period of time.
Flow Restrictor A water and energy conserving device that limits the amount of water that a faucet or shower head can deliver.
Flow Separation The process by which a separation eddy forms on the windward or leeward sides of bluff objects or steeply rising hillsides.
Flow slide The failure of a sloped bank of soil in which the movement of the soil mass does not take place along a well-defined surface of sliding.
Flow Splitting The splitting of a stable airflow around a mountain barrier, with branches going around the left and right edges of the barrier, often at accelerated…
Flowage Water that floods onto adjacent land.
Flowage easement The right or easement to overflow, submerge, or flood certain lands; a right to prohibit building on certain floodways.
Flowing Artesian Well A well drilled into a confined aquifer with enough hydraulic pressure for the water to flow to the surface without pumping.
Flowing Well In hydrologic terms, a well drilled into a confined aquifer with enough hydraulic pressure for the water to flow to the surface without pumping.
FLPMA Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.
FLRY Flurry
FLS River Flood Statement
Fluctuating flows Water released from a dam that varies in volume with time.
Fluctuating zone Area of a sandbar or vegetation zone that is within the range of fluctuating flow.
Fluctuation The deviations from expectation in a player's bankroll.
Flue The structure (in a residential heating appliance, industrial furnace, or power plant) into which combustion gases flow and are contained until they are…
Flue Gas The gas resulting from the combustion of a fuel that is emitted to the flue.
Fluence Time integrated flux
Fluffing The practice of installing blow-in, loose-fill insulation at a lower density than is recommended to meet a specified R-Value.
Fluid Liquid.
fluidized bed A gasifier or combustor design in which feedstock particles are kept in suspension by a bed of solids kept in motion by a rising column of gas.
Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) A type of furnace or reactor in which fuel particles are combusted while suspended in a stream of hot gas.
Fluidized-bed boiler A large, refractory-lined vessel with an air distribution member or plate in the bottom, a hot gas outlet in or near the top, and some provisions for…
Flume Shaped, open-channel flow sections that force flow to accelerate. Acceleration is produced by converging the sidewalls, raising the bottom, or a…
fluorescence immunoassay (Abbreviation: FIA). An immunoassay based on the use of fluorescence-labelled antibody.
fluorescence in situ hybridization (floor-EH-sents in SY-too HY-brih-dih-ZAY-shun) A laboratory technique used to look at genes or chromosomes in cells and tissues.
Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) A process which vividly paints chromosomes or portions of chromosomes with fluorescent molecules.
fluorescence-activated cell sorting (Abbreviation: FACS). A flow cytometry method in which targets (cells, individual chromosomes etc.
Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) A technique that can separate and analyze cells, which are labeled with fluorochrome-conjugated antibody, by their fluorescence and light scattering…
Fluorescent Light The conversion of electric power to visible light by using an electric charge to excite gaseous atoms in a glass tube.
fluorescent probe A probe which is labelled with a fluorescent dye, so that the signal emitted can be captured by photometric methods.
Fluorocarbons Carbon-fluorine compounds that often contain other elements such as hydrogen, chlorine, or bromine.
Flurries Snow flurries are an intermittent light snowfall of short duration (generally light snow showers) with no measurable accumulation (trace category).
flush end See: blunt end.
flush-end cut See: blunt-end cut.
Flushing A method used to clean water distribution lines by passing a large amount of water through the system.
Fluvial Pertaining to a river. Fluvial sediments are deposited by rivers.
Flux The amount of energy passing through a unit area (for example, 1m2) per time. On this website, we will be discussing the flux of light energy due to…
FLW Follow (or) Flow- Wind
Fly ash The fine particulate matter entrained in the flue gases of a combustion power plant.
Flyway A seasonal route followed by birds migrating to and from their breeding areas.
Flywheel Effect The damping of interior temperature fluctuations by massive construction.
FM Full Mana
fMin In solar-terrestrial terms, the lowest radiowave frequency that can be reflected from the ionosphere.
FNT Front
FNTGNS Frontogenesis
FNTLYS Frontolysis
Foam (Insulation) A high R-value insulation product usually made from urethane that can be injected into wall cavities, or sprayed onto roofs or floors, where it expands…
Foam Board A plastic foam insulation product, pressed or extruded into board-like forms, used as sheathing and insulation for interior basement or crawl space walls…
Foam Core Panels A type of structural, insulated product with foam insulation contained between two facings of drywall, or structural wood composition boards such as…
Foehn A warm, dry wind on the lee side of a mountain range, the warmth and dryness of the air being due to adiabatic compression as the air descends the…
Foehn Pause A temporary cessation of the foehn at the ground due to the formation or intrusion of a cold air layer which lifts the foehn off the ground.
foEs In solar-terrestrial terms, the maximum ordinary mode radiowave frequency capable of reflec- tion from the sporadic E region of the ionosphere.
foetus Pre-natal stage of a viviparous animal, between the embryonic stage and birth. AlteRNA tive spelling: fetus. See: embryo.
foF2 In solar-terrestrial terms, the maximum ordinary mode radiowave frequency capable of reflection from the F2 region of the ionosphere.
Fog Fine particles of liquid suspended in the air, such as of water in a fog chamber used for acclimatizing recent ex vitro transplants. See: mist propagation.
Fogbow A rainbow that has a white band that appears in fog, and is fringed with red on the outside and blue on the inside.
fold-back The structure of a double-stranded DNA molecule formed when a molecule containing an inverted repeat sequence is denatured and then allowed to re-anneal…
folded genome The condensed state of the chromosomal DNA of a bacterium. The DNA is segregated into domains, and each domain is independently negatively supercoiled.