inelastic
/ˌɪnɪˈlastɪk
/adjective
1(Of a substance or material) not elastic: a tough, inelastic membrane...
- The cuff is an inelastic cloth that encircles the arm and encloses the inflatable rubber bladder.
- Some polymers stretch to 10 times their length, whereas metals are relatively inelastic, he says.
- Graduated compression therapy to overcome venous hypertension is useful and can be applied using inelastic or elastic bandages.
2 Economics (Of demand or supply) insensitive to changes in price or income.With an inelastic demand, much lower prices and lower incomes (excluding large increases in subsidies) resulted....
- A slight drop in price does not endear the other newspaper - more or less newspaper demand is price inelastic.
- If this occurs, rice prices would decline, given that the demand for rice is relatively inelastic.
3 Physics (Of a collision) involving an overall loss of translational kinetic energy.In mechanical systems, there is always a certain amount of energy lost as heat due to frictional processes and inelastic collisions between moving parts....
- This transfer occurs when a photon undergoes an inelastic collision with a molecule, and energy is either imparted to or obtained from the material.
- Suppose further that a net amount of energy E is emitted in this inelastic collision, say in the form of heat.
Derivatives
inelastically
- The results clearly demonstrated that removal of inelastically scattered electrons significantly improved intensity data statistics.
- When this moral hazard is present, credit flows rapidly into inelastically supplied assets, such as real estate.
- Let us consider the example of a high energy electron scattering inelastically with a proton, the result yielding evidence of quarks.
inelasticity
/ noun ...- And the issue there is what I would call the continuing geographical elasticity of the Republican coalition and the relative inelasticity of the Democrats’.
- The two extreme categories of perfect inelasticity and perfect elasticity are generally of no empirical interest, but usefully bound the value of an elasticity.
- The inelasticity of food production drove up prices, while the inelasticity of industry pushed down wages.
- autostabiliser
- autostabilization
- autostabilizer
- autostereogram
- autostereoscopic
- autostereoscopy
- auto-stop
- autostop
- autostrada
- autostylic
- autosuggest
- autosuggestibility
- autosuggestible
- autosuggestion
- autosuggestionist
- autosuggestive
- autoswitch
- autoswitching
- autotelic
- autotest
- autotetraploid
- autotetraploidy
- auto theft
- autotheism
- autotheist