CROSS SECTION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Cross section

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/krɔs sˈɛkʃən/ Listen

noun

cross section n.

1.

A flat plane cutting through a three-dimensional object, usually at right angles to the longest axis of the object.

2.

Any visual representation of a cross section 1, showing the internal structure of the object in the plane of the cross section; as, the technician prepared a series of MRI cross sections of the skull. Note: Different cross sections created by different techniques may show different aspects of internal structure. Thus computerized axial tomography using X-rays shows different structures than are visualized by MRI.

3.

A thin slice of an object made by cutting it transversely; as, to view a cross section of a bacterium with an electron microscope after staining the DNA; cross sections were prepared with a microtome.

4.

A representative sample of a complex group; as, the town contained a cross section of the American population.

5.

(Physics) A measure of the probability that a nucleus will interact in a specified way with a bombarding particle, expressed as the effective area that the nucleus presents to the particle; called also nuclear cross section.

verb

cross section v. t. To create one or a series of cross sections 3 by cutting (an object) into thin slices.

See images of 'Cross section'

Etymology of 'Cross section'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cross section" Quotes from Famous Books

... driving wheel is cast iron and has spokes of the old rib pattern, which is a T in cross section, and was used previous to the adoption of the hollow spoke wheel. In the mid-1830's Baldwin and others used this rib-pattern style of wheel, except that the rib faced inside. The present driving-wheel centers ...

— The 'Pioneer': Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851 • John H. White

... ground at road fork 552 near D. Wirt visible to a patrol on Hill 712? If not what is the obstructing point? Turn in profile, using cross section paper. ...

— Military Instructors Manual • James P. Cole and Oliver Schoonmaker

... represents a cross section of the tooth, its appearance and shape will then depend on the portion of the tooth that it represents. From year to year, there is a gradual shortening in the lateral diameter, and an apparent increase in the diameter from before to behind. These ...

— Common Diseases of Farm Animals • R. A. Craig, D. V. M.

... consisted essentially of two recording devices—an ordinary phonograph, and a recorder of the Hensen type writing on a rotary glass disc (see Fig. 5, Plate X.). Of the phonograph nothing need be said. The Hensen recorder, seen in cross section in Fig. 3, was of the simplest type. A diaphragm box of the sort formerly used in the phonograph was modified for the purpose. The diaphragm was of glass, thin rubber, or goldbeater's skin. The stylus was attached perpendicularly to the surface of the diaphragm at its center. ...

— Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 • Various

... are contrasted. Will you oblige me by looking with a strong lens at the bit of comb, brushing off with a knife the upper thickened edges, and then compare, by eye alone, the thickness of the walls there with the thickness of the basal plates, as seen in any cross section. I should very much like to hear whether, even in this way, the difference is not perceptible. It is generally thus perceptible by comparing the thickness of the walls of the hexagon (if not taken very close to the angle) near to the basal plates, where the comparison by ...

— More Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume I (of II) • Charles Darwin

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