heavy ion

American

noun

the nucleus of a heavy element.

heavy ion Scientific

The nucleus of a heavy element, such as gold. Collisions of heavy ions are induced in particle accelerators to explore the internal structure quark structure of the nuclei; recent experiments suggest that the extremely high temperatures generated by such collisions can create a short-lived plasma of quarks and gluons.
A charged microscopic particle that forms when ions attach to a dust mote or similar object.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Gating, in contrast, occurs when a heavy ion flow disrupts the charge balance and destabilizes the pore's structure.

From Science Daily

Data from heavy ion collisions give new insight into the electromagnetic properties of quark-gluon plasma 'deconfined' from protons and neutrons.

From Science Daily

To observe individual neutrons, the team used a powerful detector built for that purpose, on loan from the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, in addition to Riken’s instruments.

From Scientific American

"In our study, we systematically investigated for the first time the conversion rates of neutrons and protons for a large number of disk configurations by means of elaborate computer simulations, and we found that the disks are very rich in neutrons as long as certain conditions are met," said astrophysicist Oliver Just of the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany.

From Salon

So, last year, a team led by Rudolph and Christoph Düllmann of the University of Mainz took another look at the stability of flerovium with upgraded detectors at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany.

From Science Magazine

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023