piezoelectric effect
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Related to piezoelectric effect: Piezoelectric transducer
piezoelectric effect
(pīē'zōĭlĕk`trĭk), voltage produced between surfaces of a solid dielectric (nonconducting substance) when a mechanical stress is applied to it. A small current may be produced as well. The effect, discovered by Pierre Curie in 1883, is exhibited by certain crystals, e.g., quartz and Rochelle salt, and ceramic materials. When a voltage is applied across certain surfaces of a solid that exhibits the piezoelectric effect, the solid undergoes a mechanical distortion. Piezoelectric materials are used in transducerstransducer,device that accepts an input of energy in one form and produces an output of energy in some other form, with a known, fixed relationship between the input and output. One widely used class of transducers consists of devices that produce an electric output signal, e.g.
..... Click the link for more information. , e.g., phonograph cartridges, microphones, and strain gauges, which produce an electrical output from a mechanical input, and in earphones and ultrasonic radiators, which produce a mechanical output from an electrical input. Piezoelectric solids typically resonate within narrowly defined frequency ranges; when suitably mounted they can be used in electric circuits as components of highly selective filters or as frequency-control devices for very stable oscillatorsoscillator, electronic
, electronic circuit that produces an output signal of a specific frequency. An oscillator generally consists of an amplifier having part of its output returned to the input by means of a feedback loop; the necessary and sufficient condition for
..... Click the link for more information. .
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piezoelectric effect
[pē¦ā·zō·ə′lek·trik i′fekt] (solid-state physics)
The generation of electric polarization in certain dielectric crystals as a result of the application of mechanical stress.
The reverse effect, in which application of a voltage between certain faces of the crystal produces a mechanical distortion of the material.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
piezoelectric effect
, piezoelectricity Physics
a. the production of electricity or electric polarity by applying a mechanical stress to certain crystals
b. the converse effect in which stress is produced in a crystal as a result of an applied potential difference
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