aeolotropic

See also: æolotropic

English

Alternative forms

• eolotropic
• aelotropic, elotropic
• æolotropic (obsolete)

Etymology

aeolo- +‎ -tropic

Adjective

aeolotropic (not comparable)

1. (physics) Pertaining to aeolotropy; of a body or substance, having physical properties (e.g., electric conductivity, refractive index) that depend on the direction in which they are measured.
   • 1867, W. Thomson & P. G. Tait, Treatise on Natural Philosophy vol. 1, page 518:

     An individual body […] may be isotropic in one quality or class of qualities, but æolotropic in others.

   • 1911, Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edn. vol. 18, page 627:

     On extending his [Mitscherlich's] inquiry to other aelotropic crystals he observed a similar variation, and was thus led, in 1825, to the discovery that aelotropic crystals, when heated, expand unequally in the direction of dissimilar axes.

Synonyms

• anisotropic

Related terms

• aeolotropy

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.