polarisation

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Joined Dec 26, 2010
2,148
Your question does not supply enough information to make it easy to answer. The word "polarisation" has a number of meanings, several of which come within the subject areas of electricity and electronics.

Some of these are to do with the sense of positive and negative charge, for instance polarised electrolytic capacitors can only be used in one polarity, with the appropriate terminals connected to positive and negative potentials.

Polarised connectors are made so that their connections cannot be reversed, not necessarily sometimes to ensure that a supply voltage is not reversed, but more generally to ensure that the right order of connections.

A specific meaning of polarisation applies to the formation of gas bubbles on battery plates with use, resulting in reduced output. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_cell

Then there is the polarisation of electromagnetic waves, including radio and light waves. I really can't be going into all that! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_(waves)

Finally, you may possibly come across "polarisation" as a synonym for "bias", in the context of a DC current or voltage level applied to a device such as a transistor. I am not sure that this is standard English, but I have seen it. Possibly this comes from other languages (it is standard in French). Maybe we should try to stick to our own terminologies, as the Académie française recommend that francophones should.

I'm sure that there are other senses of this word. Why don't you try a web search, or even looking it up in a dictionary.
 
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