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Orbit vs Spectrum - What's the difference?

orbit | spectrum | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between orbit and spectrum

is that orbit is a circular or elliptical path of one object around another object while spectrum is specter, apparition.

As a verb orbit

is to circle or revolve around another object.

orbit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A circular or elliptical path of one object around another object.
    • The Moon's orbit around the Earth takes nearly one month to complete.
  • A sphere of influence; an area of control.
    • In the post WWII era, several eastern European countries came into the orbit of the Soviet Union.
  • The course of one's usual progression, or the extent of one's typical range.
    • The convenience store was a heavily travelled point in her daily orbit , as she purchased both cigarettes and lottery tickets there.
  • (anatomy) The bony cavity containing the eyeball; the eye socket.
  • (physics) The path an electron takes around an atom's nucleus.
  • (mathematics) A collection of points related by the evolution function of a dynamical system.

    • Derived terms

    * *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To circle or revolve around another object.
    • The Earth orbits the Sun.
  • To move around the general vicinity of something.
    • The harried mother had a cloud of children orbiting her, asking for sweets.
  • To place an object into an orbit around a planet.
    • A rocket was used to orbit the satellite.

    Synonyms

    * (move around the general vicinity of) circumambulate, tag along * (place an object into an orbit) launch

    Derived terms

    * orbital

    See also

    * satellite * (wikipedia "orbit")

    spectrum

    English

    (wikipedia spectrum)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • Specter, apparition.
  • A range; a continuous, infinite, one-dimensional set, possibly bounded by extremes.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=As Mr. Obama prepared to take the oath, his approval rating touched a remarkable 70 percent in some polling — a reflection of good will across the political spectrum .}}
  • Specifically, a range of colours representing light (electromagnetic radiation) of contiguous frequencies; hence electromagnetic spectrum, visible spectrum, ultraviolet spectrum, etc.
  • * 2010 October 30, Jim Giles, Jammed!'', in '' ,
    • Current 3G technologies can send roughly 1 bit of data - a one or a zero - per second over each 1 Hz of spectrum that the operator owns.
  • (chemistry) The pattern of absorption or emission of radiation produced by a substance when subjected to energy (radiation, heat, electricity, etc.).
  • (mathematics, linear algebra) The set of eigenvalues of a matrix.
  • (mathematics, functional analysis) Of a bounded linear operator A'', the set of scalar values ? such that the operator ''A—?I'', where ''I denotes the identity operator, does not have a bounded inverse; intended as a generalisation of the linear algebra sense.

    • Derived terms

    * light spectrum * spectro- * spectrum disorder

    Related terms

    * spectral

    Anagrams

    * English nouns with irregular plurals ----