Lexic.us

Definition of Critical mass

1. Noun. The minimum amount (of something) required to start or maintain a venture. "They sold the business because it lacked critical mass"

2. Noun. The minimum mass of fissionable material that can sustain a chain reaction.

Definition of Critical mass

1. Proper noun. A direct action event in which bicycle riders travel through city streets as a group. ¹

2. Noun. (physics) the amount of fissile material that is needed to support a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction ¹

3. Noun. A quantity or amount required to trigger a phenomenon. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Critical mass

1. The minimum amount of mass of a combination of radioactive substances needed for the substances to generate and lose an exactly balanced number of neutrons to make a chain reaction which will keep going by itself. (09 Oct 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Critical Mass

critical appraisal critical care critical care unit critical concentration critical dissolved oxygen concentration critical flicker fusion frequency critical function critical functions critical gradient critical habitat

critical illness critical illness polyneuropathy critical incident stress management critical load critical loads critical micelle concentration critical opalescence critical organ critical pH critical path

critical paths critical pathway critical period critical point critical point drying critical pressure critical rate critical rationalism

Literary usage of Critical mass

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Conflict Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing Programs in Schools ...by Donna Crawford by Donna Crawford (1997)
"Phase IV: Educate a critical mass * Conduct faculty inservice training. * Conduct student -workshops. * Provide family and community orientation. ..."

2. The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb by F. G. Gosling (1999)
"When enough data were gathered to establish optimum critical mass, ... That is, it was not enough simply to start a chain reaction in a critical mass; ..."

3. Biodiversity and the Management of the Madrean Archipelago: The Sky Islands edited by Leonard F. DeBano (1999)
"critical mass is a term that came from physics, referring to the point where ... Sociologists refer to critical mass, too, to see at what point an idea ..."

4. The Socius of Architecture: Amsterdam, Tokyo, New York by Arie Graafland (2000)
"Although it doesn't contain an explanation of the concept of the 'critical mass', it does discuss aspects he took into consideration in his design of a ..."

5. Bond Market Development in Asia by OECD Staff, Oecd, (Paris) Organisation for Economic Co-ope (2001)
"A critical mass of corporate bond issues is most needed for the commercial ... A reliable rating agency is badly needed to build up the critical mass. ..."

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