Complete Engineering Vocabulary (B's)

Barometer

A device for measuring pressure

Battery

Electrochemical cells that transform chemical energy into electricity.

Base

In chemistry, \--- are substances that, in aqueous solution, release hydroxide (OH−) ions, are slippery to the touch, can taste bitter if an alkali.

Baud

Rate at which data is transferred in symbols

Beam

A structural element whose length is significantly greater than its width or height.

Beer–Lambert law

relates the attenuation of light to the properties of the material through which the light is travelling.

Belt

A closed loop of flexible material used to transmit mechanical power from one pulley to another.

Belt friction

a term describing the friction forces between a belt and a surface, such as a belt wrapped around a bollard. When one end of the belt is being pulled only part of this force is transmitted to the other end wrapped about a surface.

Bending

In applied mechanics, --- (also known as flexure) characterizes the behavior of a slender structural element subjected to an external load applied perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the element.

Bending moment

In solid mechanics, a \--- \--- is the reaction induced in a structural element when an external force or moment is applied to the element, causing the element to bend.

Benefit–cost analysis

a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives.

Bernoulli’s equation

equation for relating several measurements within a fluid flow, such as velocity, pressure, and potential energy.

Bernoulli’s principle

In fluid dynamics, Bernoulli’s \--- states that an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid’s potential energy.

Beta particle

a high-energy, high-speed electron or positron emitted by the radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus during the process of beta decay.

Binomial distribution

In probability theory and statistics, the \--- \--- with parameters n and p is the discrete probability distribution of the number of successes in a sequence of n independent

Biocatalysis

refers to the use of living (biological) systems or their parts to speed up (catalyze) chemical reactions. In \--- processes, natural catalysts, such as enzymes, perform chemical transformations on organic compounds.

Biomedical engineering

the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g. diagnostic or therapeutic).

Biomimetic

bithe imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.

Bionics

The application of biological methods to engineering systems.

Biophysics

Is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena

Biot number

is a dimensionless quantity used in heat transfer calculations

Block and tackle

A system of pulleys and a rope threaded between them, used to lift or pull heavy loads.

Body force

Is a force that acts throughout the volume of a body. Forces due to gravity, electric fields and magnetic fields are examples of \--- \---. \--- \--- contrast with contact forces or surface forces which are exerted to the surface of an object.

Boiler

Is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated.

Boiling point

\--- \---- of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a vapor.

Boiling-point elevation

describes the phenomenon that the boiling point of a liquid (a solvent) will be higher when another compound is added, meaning that a solution has a higher boiling point than a pure solvent.

Boltzmann constant

a physical constant relating the average kinetic energy of particles in a gas with the temperature of the gas and occurs in Planck’s law of blackbody radiation and in Boltzmann’s entropy formula.

Boson

In quantum mechanics, a \--- is a particle that follows Bose–Einstein statistics.

Boyle’s law

is an experimental gas law that describes how the pressure of a gas tends to increase as the volume of the container decreases.

Bravais lattice

In geometry and crystallography, a \--- \---, named after Auguste Bravais is an infinite array (or a finite array, if we consider the edges, obviously) of discrete points generated by a set of discrete translation operations described in three dimensional space.

Brayton cycle

A thermodynamic cycle model for an ideal heat engine, in which heat is added or removed at constant pressure; approximated by a gas turbine.

Break-even

in economics, business—and specifically cost accounting—is the point at which total cost and total revenue are equal.

Brewster’s angle

is an angle of incidence at which light with a particular polarization is perfectly transmitted through a transparent dielectric surface, with no reflection.

Brittleness

A material is \--- if, when subjected to stress, it breaks without significant plastic deformation.

Bromide

Any chemical substance made up of Bromine, along with other elements.

Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory

The fundamental concept of this theory is that when an acid and a base react with each other, the acid forms its conjugate base, and the base forms its conjugate acid by exchange of a proton (the hydrogen cation, or H+).

Brownian motion

(or pedesis) is the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid (aliquid or a gas) resulting from their collision with the fast-moving molecules in the fluid.

Buckingham π theorem

A method for determining Π groups, or dimensionless descriptors of physical phenomena.

Buffer solution

is an aqueous solution consisting of a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base, or vice versa. Its pH changes very little when a small amount of strong acid or base is added to it. \--- \--- are used as a means of keeping pH at a nearly constant value in a wide variety of chemical applications. In nature, there are many systems that use buffering for pH regulation.

Bulk modulus

A measure of how resistant to compression that substance is.

Buoyancy

A force caused by displacement in a fluid by an object of different density than the fluid.