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Antenna vs Coil - What's the difference?

antenna | coil |

As nouns the difference between antenna and coil

is that antenna is a feeler organ on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal while coil is something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.

As a verb coil is

to wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.

antenna

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • A feeler organ on the head of an insect, crab, or other animal.
  • An apparatus to receive or transmit radio waves and convert respectively to or from an electrical signal.
  • The faculty of intuitive astuteness.
  • * 2006 Kelly Pyrek, Forensic Nursing , page 5, ISBN 084933540X.
  • Most nurses believe they are born with an antenna of sorts, which is able to guide them through clinical practice and help them determine what is right and what is not...
  • * 2010 Mary Lou Decostérd, Right Brain/Left Brain President: Barack Obama's Uncommon Leadership Ability , page 106, ISBN 0313380724.
  • Obama is astute. He approaches things with the help of a sensitive antenna .

    Usage notes

  • For multiple feelers'' the Anglicised plural, ''antennas'', is used only rarely in scholarly works in the life sciences. In other subjects and in less formal settings, ''antennas is found with increased frequency.
  • * 2006 Timothy Duane Schowalter, Insect Ecology: An Ecosystem Approach , page 22 ISBN 012088772X.
  • The overall shape of most insect antennae is elongate and cylindrical, although elaborations into plumose, lamellate, or pectinate forms have arisen many times in different insect lineages.
  • * 2009 , Deception Point , page 24, ISBN 1409083977.
  • He put his fingers over his head like two antennas , crossed his eyes, and waggled his tongue like some kind of insect.
  • * In the same work, Brown uses antennae to refer to both aerials and feelers during more technical descriptions.
  • * 2010 Craig S. Charron, Daliel J. Cantliffe, "Volatile emissions from plants", Horticultural Reviews , pages 43-72 ISBN 0470650575.
  • The basis of these relationships lies in the olfactory chemoreceptors of insect antennas ...
  • For multiple aerials'' both plural forms are acceptable in scholarly works. The Latinate plural, ''antennae , is rarer in less formal settings.
  • * 1908 , "Wireless telephony", Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers , volume 27, issue 1, pages 553 - 629, January 1908.
  • From 1898 to 1900 numerous experiments were made on antennae of large capacity and it was found that instead of using sheets of solid metal or wire netting, single wires could be placed at a considerable fraction of the wave-length apart and yet give practically the same capacity effect as if the space between them were filled with solid conductors.
  • * 1913 , "A discussion on experimental tests of the radiation law for radio oscillators", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers , volume 1, issue 1, pages 3-10, January 1913.
  • When we come to the complicated forms of antennae which we use in practice to-day, it becomes excessively difficult to work out the theory mathematically.
  • * 1914 , "The fifth Kelvin Lecture: the electrification of the atmosphere, natural and artificial", Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers , volume 52, issue 229, pages 333-352.
  • At that time it was giving the full 50,000 volts, as measured by the needle spark-gap between the antennae and earth.
  • * 1936 , "A method of reducing disturbances in radio signaling by a system of frequency modulation", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers , volume 24, issue 5, pages 689-740, May 1936.
  • If the distance between stations is such that the signal strength varies appreciably with time then the directivity of the receiving antennas must be greater than two to one.
  • * 1960 Leonard Hatkin, "The Signal Corps' contribution to the microwave antenna art", IRE Transactions on Military Electronics , volume MIL-4, issue 4, pages 532-536, October 1960.
  • * In this work Hatkin uses antennas to refer to both aerials and insects.
  • ...the waggling of the signal flags...was somewhat reminiscent of the vibrations of the insect's antennas ...
    Indeed, many microwave antennas were more reminiscent of optical devices than anything resembling standard radio frequency equipment.
  • * 2009 , Dan Brown, Lost Symbol , ISBN 1409057976.
  • Bellamy found himself squinting into the glow of what appeared to be some kind of futuristic laptop with a handheld phone receiver, two antennae , and a double keyboard.
  • * 2011 G. Brodie, B.M. Ahmed, M.V. Jacob, "Detection of decay in wood using microwave characterization" 2011 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference Proceedings , 5-8 Dec. 2011, pages 1754-1757.
  • Based on results from the dielectric probe experiment, a prototype system was developed to measure microwave attenuation and phase delay between two antennae in order to detect fungal decay in wood at equilibrium moisture content.
  • * 2012 V. Mishra, T. Singh, A. Alam, V. Kumar, A. Choudhary, V. Dinesh Kumar, "Design and simulation of broadband nanoantennae at optical frequencies", IET Micro & Nano Letters , volume 7, issue 1, pages 24-28, January 2012.
  • Contrary to RF antennae', the length of such ' nanoantennae is shorter than half the operating wavelength for fundamental mode and this happens due to excitation of surface plasmons in the case of latter.
  • * 2012 Y. Li, A. Nosratinia, "Capacity limits of multiuser multiantenna cognitive networks", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory , preprint, page 1, March 2012.
  • For simplicity of exposition, primary and secondary users are assumed initially to have one antenna', however, as shown in the sequel, most of the results can be directly extended to a scenario where each user has multiple ' antennas .
  • Some make a distinction between an (term) and an (aerial), with the former used to indicate a rigid structure for radio reception or transmission, and the latter consisting of a wire strung in the air. For those who do not make a distinction, (term) is more commonly used in the United States and (aerial) is more commonly used in the United Kingdom.
  • For the faculty of intuitive astuteness, the Latinate plural is used most frequently but both forms are found.
  • * 2006 Kelly Pyrek, Forensic Nursing , page 514, ISBN 084933540X.
  • ...they get these fully formed antennas . With them they get this amazing sense of intuition, a gut feeling about when something might be wrong.

    Synonyms

    * (Feeler organ on the head of an insect) feeler * (Device to receive or transmit radio-frequency signal) aerial

    Derived terms

    * * * *

    coil

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ; compare legend.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.
  • the sinuous coils of a snake
  • * Washington Irving
  • The wild grapevines that twisted their coils from tree to tree.
  • Any intra-uterine contraceptive device (Abbreviation: IUD )—the first IUDs were coil-shaped.
  • (electrical) A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.
  • (figurative) Entanglement; perplexity.
  • Synonyms
    * (coil of conductive wire) inductor
    Derived terms
    * coil spring * impedance coil * mosquito coil * Oudin coil * Tesla coil

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.
  • A simple transformer can be made by coiling two pieces of insulated copper wire around an iron heart.
  • To wind into loops (roughly) around a common center.
  • The sailor coiled the free end of the hawser on the pier.
  • To wind cylindrically or spirally.
  • to coil a rope when not in use
    The snake coiled itself before springing.
  • (obsolete, rare) To encircle and hold with, or as if with, coils.
  • Etymology 2

    Origin unknown.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A noise, tumult, bustle, or turmoil.
  • * 1594 , William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus , Act III:
  • If the windes rage, doth not the Sea wax mad, / Threatning the welkin with his big-swolne face? / And wilt thou haue a reason for this coile ?
  • * 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 162:
  • this great Savage desired also to see him. A great coyle there was to set him forward.
  • * 1704 , Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub :
  • they continued so extremely fond of gold, that if Peter sent them abroad, though it were only upon a compliment, they would roar, and spit, and belch, and piss, and f—t, and snivel out fire, and keep a perpetual coil , till you flung them a bit of gold [...].
    Derived terms
    * mortal coil

    Anagrams

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