law of nature

Noun
  1. A generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature (synset 105881589)
    "the laws of thermodynamics"
    is a type of: concept, conception, construct - an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances
    subtypes:
    • all-or-none law - (neurophysiology) a nerve impulse resulting from a weak stimulus is just as strong as a nerve impulse resulting from a strong stimulus
    • principle, rule - a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system
    • archimedes' principle, law of archimedes - (hydrostatics) the apparent loss in weight of a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid
    • avogadro's hypothesis, avogadro's law - the principle that equal volumes of all gases (given the same temperature and pressure) contain equal numbers of molecules
    • bernoulli's law, law of large numbers - (statistics) law stating that a large number of items taken at random from a population will (on the average) have the population statistics
    • benford's law - a law used by auditors to identify fictitious populations of numbers; applies to any population of numbers derived from other numbers
    • bose-einstein statistics - (physics) statistical law obeyed by a system of particles whose wave function is not changed when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle does not apply)
    • boyle's law, mariotte's law - the pressure of an ideal gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the volume
    • coulomb's law - a fundamental principle of electrostatics; the force of attraction or repulsion between two charged particles is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the distance between them; principle also holds for magnetic poles
    • dalton's law, dalton's law of partial pressures, law of partial pressures - (chemistry and physics) law stating that the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases equals the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture; the pressure of a gas in a mixture equals the pressure it would exert if it occupied the same volume alone at the same temperature
    • distribution law - (chemistry) the total energy in an assembly of molecules is not distributed equally but is distributed around an average value according to a statistical distribution
    • equilibrium law, law of chemical equilibrium - (chemistry) the principle that (at chemical equilibrium) in a reversible reaction the ratio of the rate of the forward reaction to the rate of the reverse reaction is a constant for that reaction
    • fechner's law, weber-fechner law - (psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity; based on early work by E. H. Weber
    • fermi-dirac statistics - (physics) law obeyed by a systems of particles whose wave function changes when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle applies)
    • charles's law, gay-lussac's law, law of volumes - (physics) the density of an ideal gas at constant pressure varies inversely with the temperature
    • henry's law - (chemistry) law formulated by the English chemist William Henry; the amount of a gas that will be absorbed by water increases as the gas pressure increases
    • hooke's law - (physics) the principle that (within the elastic limit) the stress applied to a solid is proportional to the strain produced
    • hubble law, hubble's law - (astronomy) the generalization that the speed of recession of distant galaxies (the red shift) is proportional to their distance from the observer
    • kepler's law, kepler's law of planetary motion - (astronomy) one of three empirical laws of planetary motion stated by Johannes Kepler
    • kirchhoff's laws - (physics) two laws governing electric networks in which steady currents flow: the sum of all the currents at a point is zero and the sum of the voltage gains and drops around any closed circuit is zero
    • law of averages - a law affirming that in the long run probabilities will determine performance
    • law of constant proportion, law of definite proportions - (chemistry) law stating that every pure substance always contains the same elements combined in the same proportions by weight
    • law of diminishing returns - a law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectiveness
    • law of effect - (psychology) the principle that behaviors are selected by their consequences; behavior having good consequences tends to be repeated whereas behavior that leads to bad consequences is not repeated
    • law of equivalent proportions, law of reciprocal proportions - (chemistry) law stating that the proportions in which two elements separately combine with a third element are also the proportions in which they combine together
    • law of gravitation, newton's law of gravitation - (physics) the law that states any two bodies attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them
    • dalton's law, law of multiple proportions - (chemistry) law stating that when two elements can combine to form more than one compound the amounts of one of them that combines with a fixed amount of the other will exhibit a simple multiple relation
    • law of mass action - (chemistry) the law that states the following principle: the rate of a chemical reaction is directly proportional to the molecular concentrations of the reacting substances
    • law of thermodynamics - (physics) a law governing the relations between states of energy in a closed system
    • mendel's law - (genetics) one of two principles of heredity formulated by Gregor Mendel on the basis of his experiments with plants; the principles were limited and modified by subsequent genetic research
    • law of motion, newton's law, newton's law of motion - one of three basic laws of classical mechanics
    • ohm's law - electric current is directly proportional to voltage and inversely proportional to resistance; I = E/R
    • pascal's law, pascal's law of fluid pressures - pressure applied anywhere to a body of fluid causes a force to be transmitted equally in all directions; the force acts at right angles to any surface in contact with the fluid
    • exclusion principle, pauli exclusion principle - no two electrons or protons or neutrons in a given system can be in states characterized by the same set of quantum numbers
    • mendeleev's law, periodic law - (chemistry) the principle that chemical properties of the elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbers
    • planck's law - (physics) the basis of quantum theory; the energy of electromagnetic waves is contained in indivisible quanta that have to be radiated or absorbed as a whole; the magnitude is proportional to frequency where the constant of proportionality is given by Planck's constant
    • planck's radiation law - (physics) an equation that expresses the distribution of energy in the radiated spectrum of an ideal black body
    • principle of relativity - (physics) a universal law that states that the laws of mechanics are not affected by a uniform rectilinear motion of the system of coordinates to which they are referred
    • power law, stevens' law, stevens' power law - (psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to a power of the stimulus intensity
    • weber's law - (psychophysics) the concept that a just-noticeable difference in a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus
    is a part of: theory - a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena
    same as: law

Other Searches